The Beginning
by Landon Richardson
Summary: When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny - go on, give it a chance :) )
1. Chapter 1

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belong to me in any shape or form, I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes**

Author Note

**I have no idea where this story came from because I haven't been in a writing mood for the longest of times, ever since I became ill writing has been the last thing I wanted to do but this idea simply wouldn't leave me alone.**

**I was talking to a friend about how in the new series they had changed Kono to a female and how it changed the dynamics of the group and she suggested I wrote a story where Danny became Danni and see where it led me. I wasn't sure about it but the idea wouldn't leave me, how different would things be if the creator of the new series has made Danny a girl as well? Would it change a lot? Would things be the same? Obviously there would be the Steve element… chemistry doesn't change after all but would it change the relationship with Chin and Kono again? I was intrigued big time…**

**So I decided to write the pilot all from Danni's point of view and see what happens.**

**I don't expect anyone to read it but it had to be done for my own sanity so I could pick up my other story again.**

**Obviously I've changed things a bit, dialogue is different, longer since I don't have the time constraint of a 40 minute show, we meet Danni earlier then in the series… well a few hours before her on screen appearance, there's a change with the Grace situation for example Grace lives with Danni and is more chatty but yeah… I just had to do it.**

**I just hope you enjoy it**

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Just a simple morning**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**No romance but definitely plenty of close friendship moments**

* * *

Chapter One

Just a simple morning….

* * *

Danni Williams jerked her head up from the warm wooden table surface with a sharp cry and stared wildly around her trying to get her bearings. It looked like it was early morning, the sunlight breaking through her partially closed curtains bathing her face in bright light making her squint and shade her eyes from it.

She glanced down at the table, staring at the open files and papers spread haphazardly across it in confusion before she reached up and rubbed absently at her cheek hoping that she didn't have ink smeared across her face from where she had been resting on the table. The last thing Danni could remember was staring down at the crime scene photos from the John McGarrett murder case with dry gritty eyes before everything went dark which probably meant that she had finally crashed after twenty one hours of being awake, her body giving in to its need for sleep.

She reached up, pushing her long wavy hair absently away from her face and sighed rubbing tiredly at her eyes before she dropped her hands to the table resting them there for a moment as she tried to gather her slow, woolly thoughts together.

God she needed some more coffee in her system, she needed to get out of her clothes from yesterday and into the shower for a wash, if she did that then perhaps she would start feeling human instead of feeling as though she was a Zombie. It wasn't exactly the start she wanted for a Monday morning that's for sure, especially a Monday which she knew was already going to be a pain in her ass. Pushing her chair out Danni, came to her feet, coming up on her tiptoes and stretching her arms above her head with a groan before she twisted her torso around trying to loosen her protesting muscles.

She glanced back at the files before she shook her head and left the kitchen, heading down the corridor towards the back of the house. It was a small house she owned, two bedrooms, a simple bathroom and kitchen and a living room with a tiny garden. She wished she could afford more for her and her daughter but Hawaii was too expensive, she barely could afford the rent on this place as it was.

Still Grace loved it there and Danni had never been able to deny her daughter anything which was in her power to give. They were meant to be in Hawaii for six more months before they headed back to New Jersey, which had been the custody arrangement which Danni and her ex-husband Duncan had hashed out between them, agreeing that they wanted to keep their respective lawyers out of it for once. Danni had been against the move especially as it was only for the sake of Duncan's job that they had moved but truth be told she couldn't afford another custody battle which meant keeping her ex happy. If moving to Hawaii for a year meant she was able to keep Grace with her then that was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

Danni headed to the bathroom, closing the door behind her out of habit and turned the shower on full blast. She let it warm up for a moment before she reached up and pulled her t-shirt off, kicking off the pair of shorts she had worn the previous day and jumping into the shower without any further delay. She was just thankful for the hot water and good water pressure which helped ease her sore muscles as she washed herself with her favourite body wash, the smell of it causing a smile to come to her face as she allowed herself to relax. She stood under the shower head, letting the water turn cold before she finally switched the shower off, stepping out and wrapping one of the fluffy yellow towels around her body with a small sigh of happiness. She stood in front of the small mirror as she brushed her teeth, reaching out and wiping the steam from the glass giving her revealed reflection a critical look.

Her hair was a lighter shade of blond than it had been in New Jersey, falling past her shoulder blades in a riot of waves and curls which she could barely keep under control on a good day, her skin remained pale regardless of the sunlight it was exposed to on a daily basis while large bright blue eyes looked back at her with a thoughtful expression before she shook her head and looked away, spitting out the toothpaste and heading towards her bedroom.

She rubbed herself dry, applying moisturiser to her body before she moved to her wardrobe, opening it and looking critically at the selection of clothes hanging up. She pulled a face, her eyes moving over the dresses before she shrugged and grabbed a simple navy blue sleeveless v necked dress, slipping it on over her underwear before selecting a pair of matching navy blue high heels and pulling them on as well. She brushed her hair, twisting it up into the chignon style she always favoured for work because it made her look older and more professional and quickly applied the slightest hint of makeup to her face, just enough to give her a glow without overdoing it.

She pulled on a pale blue cardigan and put her favourite necklace and earrings on to finish the outfit, glancing at herself once in the long full length mirror she owned and nodding in satisfaction, she looked highly professional exactly the look she was going for.

A sudden burst of music attracted her attention causing Danni to glance around her with a curious look, searching for the familiar sight of her mobile before she realising that she hadn't left it in her bedroom. Shaking her head she headed out of the room and followed the sound into her living room, glancing casually at the screen as she picked it up.

"Detective Williams" she remarked.

"Aloha Kakahiaka, its Meka"

"Hey Partner" she said brightly heading out of the living room and into the kitchen where she began to gather up the papers they would need for the day. "I'm just getting the file for the McGarrett case and then I'll be leaving, I've gotta get Grace from Duncan's and take her to school so I'm not gonna be able to pick you up this morning, you're gonna have to drag that heap of junk you refer to as a car out of your garage and drive yourself into the station or you could always walk, I've noticed you've been packing on a few pounds recently."

She grinned at the sound of Meka's amused laughter.

"I'll have you know Danni that the car you're so casually insulting is a known classic, a classic which you should respect hoaloha" Danni snorted.

"I'll respect it when you can actually drive in it, don't think I've forgotten all the times you've rang me up to come and pick you, Amy and Billy up because your car won't start up again, I'm keeping a tally, the way it's going you're gonna owe me a massive favour." She remarked. Danni grabbed her large black handbag from the kitchen counter and stuffed the files into it, continuing to speak as she did, a curious tone entering her voice replacing the dry amused one she had been using before. "Don't take this the wrong way or anything but is there a reason that you're calling me at 7.30 on a Monday morning? Call it my Detective instinct coming to light but I doubt you've called because you miss the sound of my voice, bearing in mind we all went to dinner last night."

"You don't shut up long enough for anyone to miss your voice Danni" Meka responded instantly making Danni roll her eyes even as she smirked.

"Well aren't you a charmer" she replied. "You sure know what to say to please the ladies" Meka snorted.

"It got me Amy didn't it" he remarked "So I'm guessing I must have been doing something right."

Well that is true I suppose though we both know that Amy is well out of your league my friend" she remarked before she changed the subject. "So what can I do for you at this hour of the morning Meka? If it's to pick up coffee for us then it's a big fat no, if anything it's your turn to get the coffee in, I brought it the last three times, not to mention the snacks I brought to that stake out we did last week. You remember right? The one which you brought nothing to?"

"I brought myself, what more do you need" Meka commented before he continued to speak, a serious note coming to his voice "Captain rang me this morning, he needs me to do something for him today though God only knows what it is this time. So you're gonna be working on the McGarrett case by yourself today" Danni nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"Yeah, that's no problem, I'm just gonna follow some leads up and head over to the McGarrett house, I don't know why but I feel like we're missing something, something obvious though what that is I don't know."

"Hey if anyone is gonna find out what it is then it's gonna be you" Meka replied confidently "Just like you found out about the third person in our last case."

"Who could forget that charming specimen of your sex" she remarked dryly. "Nothing like being hit on by a drug dealer to make a girl feel wanted and special."

"Hey whatever works right hoaloha, I gotta go, I'll call you on my lunch break and see how you're getting on."

"You know one day I'm gonna learn the Hawaiian language and then I'll finally know what it is you're calling me" Danni threatened. "If it's something rude then I'm gonna go Diva on your ass and I'm from New Jersey I can seriously go Diva if need be" she stated ignoring the sound of his laughter. "Have fun today and don't do anything I wouldn't do, we got to keep the Captain on side remember?"

"Will do… oh and Danni, try not to insult too many people" he commented before she heard a clicking sound indicating that he had hung up the phone. Danni brought it away from her ear and glared at it before she picked up her black handbag, chucking the phone into it and made her way out of the house and down her small garden path towards the small driveway where she kept her pride and joy.

She smiled at the silver car, running her hand over the roof fondly before she fished out her keys and opened it, her smile growing when her gaze focused on the large stuffed pink toy rabbit which was sitting proudly in the passenger seat. The same pink rabbit which Danni had spent the whole of Saturday searching for. Grace had an animal show and tell at school that day, since they didn't own any animals Danni had figured this was the next best thing. At the age of seven things like this was still acceptable to do.

She lowered herself into the driver's seat, chucking her bag on the rabbit's lap before slamming the door behind her and starting the car, reversing out of the drive and into the road which would take her to where Duncan lived and where her baby was waiting for her. It had taken her at least four months to learn the basic outline of the building and that was only because Meka's wife Amy had taken pity on her and taken her out one weekend when Grace had been with her father and shown her the short cuts to take to the places which Danni would need to visit the most.

Danni thanked her lucky stars on a daily basis that the Captain had made Meka her partner. In a unit of twenty, Meka had been the only person there to show her any warmth. The rest had looked at her as though she was a sub species of human, calling her a Haole to her face and mocking the fact that she was the only woman in a completely male department. The fact that she was five feet with no shoes on didn't help her cause but Danni had spent her life taking down people who had thought they were better than her and she had never let it get her down before. She wasn't going to start now.

So she ignored them, she treated them politely and indifferently, barely giving her colleagues the time of day. She kept hold of her temper with difficulty, holding her rant in until she was alone with Meka when she would let rip. He had merely found her amusing and somehow they had become close friends. He had started to refer to her as hoaloha within three weeks of knowing her, had taken her home to meet his wife and son within two weeks and hadn't that been another blessing for her.

Suddenly Danni had a friend of the same sex on the island. Someone she could call up and speak to or just do the girlie stuff she used to do with her mother and sisters back in New Jersey. Amy had the same wicked sense of humour as Danni and the same interests and they had gotten on like a house on fire from the first moment Meka had introduced them. The fact that their son Billy was only a year or so younger than Grace was, made life easier for her as well because it meant that she could bring Grace with her.

Which reminded her that they were meant to be taken Grace and Billy swimming the next weekend, she was going to have to call Amy later and arrange it with her, maybe hook up with her during the week for a quick coffee or lunch.

Danni pushed the thought away from her head as she turned into the road where Duncan lived. She pulled the car to a stop outside a large white house, not bothering to glance at it as she fished out her mobile and scrolled through her contact book, stopping at Duncan's name and pressing the call button with a sigh. She brought the phone to her ear, waiting for him to pick up. He did after three rings.

"Hello Elle" he remarked calmly, her eyes narrowed at the familiar nickname which he refused to drop even after the divorce.

"Duncan" she replied.

"Are you well? Good weekend and everything?" Danni's hand clenched into a fist, her nails biting into the soft palm, hard enough that she was sure there would be marks.

"It was fine" she replied shortly "I hope you and Gracie had fun. I'm outside, could you send her out please?"

"Of course" he replied politely. "She's just brushing her teeth. She'll be out in five or you could come in if you'd prefer and wait here rather than in your car.

"I'll wait here" she replied "Bye Duncan" she said, hanging up the phone. She held onto it, resting her head against the head rest before she sighed and turned in her seat, grabbing one of the files from her bag. If Grace was going to be five minutes then she might as well start on the case. She glanced through the file, stopping on a page with a frown. She read the information before nodding herself and typing a number into her phone and pressing the call button. This time it was picked up after two rings.

"Hello Hawaii police department, how can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Detective Danni Williams with the Homicide department, I need to speak to someone about getting a trace set up" there was a slight pause before the man spoke again.

"You require Lieutenant Akuna then, please hold while I transfer you."

Danni breathed out as some random happy, uplifting song came over the phone line, god she hated waiting music, why couldn't it ever be something good. Something which people actually wanted to listen to rather than something which made them feel suicidal. She tapped her fingers against the file on her lap, her gaze drifting to the large white house where Duncan lived.

God it was huge, making her own house look tiny in comparison.

"Detective Williams?" Danni started at the sudden voice which spoke.

"Yep that's me" she replied.

"Good, my name is Lieutenant Akuna, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. My Colleague has informed me that you need some help with something?"

"Doesn't matter" she remarked lightly, sarcasm bleeding into her voice as she continued to speak. "You're not the first person to keep me waiting on hold and I doubt you're gonna be the last either." She sighed, adjusted the file again and looked down at the angry young man who glared back at her from his mug shot.

"How can I help?" the man asked again, ignoring everything she had said. He was probably used to getting attitude from people all the time. For a moment Danni thought about pushing it but Meka's words floated around her head stopping her.

"I need to have a warrant write up for a surveillance wire on a suspect in connection to the John McGarrett murder" she remarked firmly. There was a slight pause before Lieutenant Akanu spoke, his voice professional and serious. Danni could hear him typing away at his system probably bringing up all the necessary forms he needed to make her request happen.

"What is the name of the suspect?" he asked.

"His surname is Doran, his given name is Frederick Richard but according to his file he goes by the name Fred."

"How are you spelling his surname?" Came the response, causing a slight smile to come to Danni's face as she savoured the fact she was speaking to someone who actually seemed to know what they were talking about and who was willing to be helpful.

"D-O-R-A-N" she spelt out.

The sound of the gate surrounding Duncan's property opening caught her attention, she glanced absently at them before shaking her head. Trust Duncan to have gates which automatically opened, most normal people who have been contented to open them themselves.

"I'll get that sorted for you straight away Detective Williams. I'll call you on your mobile once it's been approved, is there anything else I can help you with today?"

"Just that, thank you for the help Lieutenant Akuna, its much appreciated"

"Any time Detective" he said, his voice coming across as friendly which surprised Danni, it had been the first sign of friendliness anyone other than Meka had shown her since she had arrived on the island. Danni ended the call, closing the file and putting it back in her bag. She fluffed the rabbit before she climbed out of the car, automatically smoothing her dress down as she stepped towards the gate, her gaze honing in on her daughter, her heart threatening to explode in her chest as she caught sight of the massive smile which came to Grace's face at the sight of her.

Danni's smile grew as Grace dropped the cleaners hand as though it was diseased and hurried towards her, her brown eyes sparkling in delight as Danni hunched down and held her arms out, a whoosh of air escaping her lungs as Grace fell into her arms hugging her tightly. For a moment Danni clung to her daughter.

"Hello Mamma, I missed you!" Grace said, her voice muffled from where her face was buried in the side of Danni's neck. Danni twisted her head, resting her face against Grace's dark brown hair, breathing in the scent of strawberry shampoo which Grace favoured before she moved back, her hands lightly resting against Grace's back as she searched her daughter's face marvelling again at just how much she missed her when she was gone.

"I missed you too" she stated "And thank you for the big hug baby, it's made my day" she stated, her gaze dropping from Grace's face to look at the cage she was holding, a cage which held a small fat rabbit in it. Danni blinked at it for a moment before she looked back up. "And who is your new friend Gracie?" she asked.

Grace glanced down at the cage, hoisting it up slight so Danni could have a better look at it.

"This is Mr Hoppy Mamma" she said "Daddy got him for me over the weekend for the animal show and tell. He said I could keep him at yours."

"Well that is nice of Daddy isn't it" she said forcing a smile on her face. She would be ringing up her ex on her lunch break later for a little chat. "I hope you thanked him when he gave him to you. Mr Hoppy is very cute though not as cute as you baby" she stated, running a hand down Grace's hair. "Daddy left your hair down again?" she asked, scrunching her nose up when Grace pulled a face. "I'll braid it for you ok?" she said, smiling when Grace nodded her head. "We gotta go now, you sure you've got everything which you need?" she asked pushing herself to her feet.

"Everything" Grace answered "I double checked Mamma."

"In that case let's go, we can't have Mr Hoppy being late on his first day of school can we? What would your teacher say?"

"She wouldn't be pleased" Grace answered seriously.

"Exactly" Danni said, pushing herself to her feet and grabbing Grace's hand, she turned towards the car, her gaze falling on the pink rabbit with a wince, there was no way she could give that to Grace now. Swallowing she thought fast, walking with Grace to the driver's side before she spoke.

"Where are you going?" she teased "Are you driving?" twirling her round "You want to drive is that it?" she said, watching the wide smile which came to Grace's face as she twirled her again as though she was dancing "No you can't drive baby, not until you're at least ten, this way before you make me anymore dizzy" she remarked, walking her around the car to the passenger seat making sure she blocked the view to it with her body, something she was extremely aware that she wouldn't be able to do much longer with the way Grace was growing. "What's that?" she said suddenly pointing down the road. Grace automatically followed her finger giving Danni time to stuff the rabbit into the back seat. "What are you looking at over there? Come on we're gonna be late for school" she said, opening the door and shoving her bag onto the floor before she helped Grace in.

She headed round to her side of the car glancing once to the house before she got in, she looked at Grace, flashing her daughter a smile before she turned the key in the ignition and set off towards the school where Grace was a pupil.

"Did you have a good weekend with Daddy, baby?" she asked, glancing towards Grace who nodded her head, her gaze fixed on Mr Hoppy who hadn't moved a muscle as far as Danni could tell.

"It was fun" she said with a slight shrug. "Me and Daddy did a lot of things but it wasn't as fun as being with you Danno" she said with a pout reverting to the old nickname which she had given Danni when she had been a baby,

"Well we have plenty of time to hang out baby" she replied "Your Daddy has you Wednesday night but other than that it will be the two of us. You want to go and visit Meka, Amy and Billy over the weekend?" she asked, pleased when Grace's face lit up.

"Yeah" she said enthusiastically "Could we go to the beach? Uncle Meka promised he would help me and Billy build the biggest sandcastle Hawaii had seen." Danni grinned.

"I'd pay to see that" she stated. "How about tonight then we have a girlie evening, put on a movie and gossip, maybe get a pizza in and some junk food?" she said, turning into the road which would lead her to Grace's school.

"Yes please mamma" Grace responded. Danni nodded.

"Then that's what we'll do. I'll speak to Auntie Amy about Saturday as well, we could go swimming as well if you wanted to?"

"Yep!" Grace replied "And maybe we could get some shaved ice!"

"I don't see why not" Danni replied, bringing the car to a halt outside the school. She automatically took the bright pink hair band which Grace held out to her and quickly plaited Grace's hair running her hand down it before she kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Be good baby and have a good day"

"You too mamma, love you"

"Love you too" Danni replied, she watched Grace leave the car, waiting until she was surrounded by her group of friends and well in the school grounds before she moved, swinging the car in the direction of the McGarret house. She had work to do.

* * *

Author note

**So much longer than I thought it would be!**

**Next chapter is the meeting between Danni and Steve…**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Show me some ID

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes**

Author Note

**Wow! I can't believe people actually read and reviewed the last chapter, thank you so much! It really means a lot that people are willing to give this story a go.**

**I don't know how quickly I'll be updating this but I'm currently starting chapter four so I'm hoping to get them up as soon as possible. I really want to get this story done as soon as possible while I'm still so inspired by the idea.**

**I'm glad people liked female Danny and the way I changed it to make it a good fit.**

**The chapter below is obviously the first meeting between Steve and Danni. I might have written this story to explore a female Danny but I'm almost a 100% positive that this story will end up as a Steve/Danni story, there's definitely something between them. If I enjoy writing this version then I plan to write episode two 'Ohana' which will be done in Steve's POV, it be interesting to write how Steve views his partner.**

**Please be aware that the conversation between them has been expanded, although it is based on the conversation in the show it's not the same word for word**

**Anyway thank you for reading, you never know Chapter three might be up tomorrow.**

**Enjoy!**

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Show me your ID…**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**I'm thinking some sparks are flying…**

* * *

Chapter Two

Show me some ID

* * *

Danni pulled up outside the McGarret house, cutting the engine and staring up at the house for a moment before she slowly got out of the car. Now this was the type of house she would want to own if she had enough money to buy a property of her own. It was better than Duncan's place in her view that was for sure. Not so big or daunting but still large enough that you could easily have several people staying there at one time. There was a feeling about it that Danni could almost touch, a feeling which she couldn't quite put a name to but which grew stronger the longer she looked at the exterior.

Shaking her head Danni turned away from the house, reaching back into the car and grabbing her bag from the passenger seat, before she closed the door and locked it. The place was silent almost like a morgue making her miss the sound of Meka's cheerful voice, somehow the atmosphere hadn't seemed so oppressive when her partner has been around.

She wondered whether John's family had ever stayed here with him, she knew from the file that he had had a son who had joined the navy who was a couple of years older than herself and also a daughter who was a year younger than Danni was, she knew that the daughter currently lived in LA and god only knew where the son currently was. She wondered briefly whether the house had ever been loud with the sound of voices trying to speak over each other and laughter or had it always been like this? Cold and empty looking as though it was begging to be filled rather than simply abandoned. Danni was suddenly thankful for her own house, it might have been small but at least it was cosy and she and Grace certainly made enough noise between the two of them to make it sound lived in.

For a moment she allowed herself a glimmer of pity for the dead man before she pushed the feeling away and headed towards the entrance hall, she glanced at the bright yellow tape fluttering in the warm wind but it look undisturbed. She was the only one here.

She pulled out an envelope from her bag, slipping her finger under the flap and opening it, holding her hand out flat in front of her and tipped the now open envelope over it, her hand automatically closing over the cool key which landed in her palm. She placed it in the lock, stuffing the envelope back into her bag and allowed herself one final look around the perimeter before she twisted the key and entered the house.

It was cool inside but the lingering smell of blood made her nose wrinkle up in disgust as she headed across the wooden floorboards, out of the hallway and into the living room where the murder had taken place. The only noise breaking the silence was her high heels and the sound of an old clock slowly ticking away in the corner. Danni, dropped her bag on one of the chairs, reaching in it and absently retrieving her gun and a pair of adhesive gloves which she pulled on. She lightly held the gun in one hand, moving quietly around the room, eyes lingering on the blood which still splattered the wall, it was dark now, like the colour of rust, she wished she could open a window but she couldn't risk the scene being contaminated.

There was no doubt in her mind, that this murder had been extremely personal, John had been shot directly in the face if that wasn't personal then she didn't know what was, she knew that John must have known what was going to happen to him, he must have known from the minute the murderer had forced himself into his house, beating him and tying him up to a chair. Knowing he was going to be killed by a man seeking revenge against his only son, a son who had been somewhere else at the time, probably not even in the country. She knew that a call had been made, that a deal had been broken and Danni was left trying to figure out how to capture the bastard who had done this. She wasn't going to let the son of a bitch get away with it, not if she could help it. She might not have known John McGarret personally but Meka had. She could still picture her partner's face when the call had come through over the scanner, the memory making her shudder. John McGarrett had been one of them and she was determined to avenge him the only way she knew how. By locking the murderer behinds bars where he could rot away in solitary away from humanity until he died, never again seeing the light of day.

Danni's head whipped round, her eyes narrowing as she listened carefully, her ears picking up the sound of a muffled voice. Someone else was in the house with her. Licking her lips, she moved quickly and quietly through the house, following the sound until she found herself outside the room which she knew from the blueprints would lead straight to the garage. She hesitated for a moment, checking her gun before she set her shoulders and kicked the door open, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she moved into the room, gun up, paying little attention to anything other than the tall man who had spun towards her, his own gun out pointing at her. She spoke.

"You, hands up where I can see them"

"Who are you?" the man demanded, his eyes narrowing at her with an expression in them which froze her blood.

"Who am I? Who the hell are you?" she demanded back, her gun held steady as she straightened her spine suddenly thankful that she had worn high heels. "I'm Detective Danni Williams" she stated at the exact same time he spoke.

"Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett! This is my father's house"

"Put your weapon down right now" Danni responded.

"Show me your ID first" He replied causing Danni to glare at him in frustration.

"I'm the cop here, how about you show me your ID"

"Show it to me now" McGarrett stated sounding equally frustrated as he glared back. "I'm not going to put my gun down until you prove you're who you say you are."

"Well neither am I so I guess this is a deadlock isn't it" Danni snapped. For an instant Danni thought she caught a look of amusement in his eyes before they narrowed again.

"Use your free hand and take out your ID and show it to me" McGarrett commanded. She raised an eyebrow at his tone, clearly this was a man who was used to everyone bending backwards to please him. There was only two people who Danni responded to in that fashion and they were both safely back in New Jersey, there was no way in hell that she was obeying a stranger.

"Please after you" Danni said using her free hand to wave in his direction before she reached up and grasped the butt of her gun with it.

"I'm all for equal rights so how about we do it at the same time? Would that please you?" he suggested causing her eyes to widen at him.

"At the same time?" she repeated, breathing out when he nodded slowly at her.

"Yeah at the same time" Danni blinked.

"Shall we count to three or just whip them out?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, storing his comment about equal rights in her head. She was so going to kick him for that comment once their guns were away.

"Sure why not, three is a good number" McGarrett stated shifting on his feet.

"That it is, my favourite number in fact" she remarked before she took a deep breath. "Fine on three, One" Danni said, reaching for her badge

"Two" McGarrett said, his own free hand heading for one of the numerous pockets on his cargo pants.

"Three" Danni fished out her badge and held it out to him, her eyes dropping to look at the military ID which he was holding out to her. It definitely wasn't a fake meaning that the man in front of her was John McGarrett's son, the navy SEAL who had heard his father die over the phone.

Danni lowered her gun slowly, closing her ID her eyes fixed on Steve McGarrett's face. He was good looking, incredibly so if she was being honest with herself, but that wasn't what caught her attention it was the tiredness etched into his expression. He looked like a man who had faced more than any man should and was still trying to carry on regardless of the burden he was bearing.

She glanced away aware of his eyes on her before she spoke, her voice surprisingly gently

"Listen" she remarked turning to meet his large hazel eyes, she hesitated for a moment before continuing "I'm really sorry about your father but you're military which means that you already know that you can't be here right now. I mean the yellow tape outside is a big give away that your father's home is an active crime scene-"

"Really Detective because it doesn't look that active to me, In fact I'm pretty sure that the only two people in this active crime scene are you and me." Steve responded, waving his arm out to indicate around him. Danni breathed out.

"I can't share any information with you" she said ignoring his comment and the way he seemed to expand at her words making her suddenly extremely aware that she was alone in the house with someone she didn't know and who probably could snap her in half if he ever got hold of her.

"Victor Hesse wasn't in this house alone when my father was murdered did you know that?" Steve asked reaching up and running a long slim hand through his dark hair. "There was someone else there with him sitting at the desk in the study, there was a space cleared for a thirteen inch laptop and my Dad hated computers. He would never have one in his house full stop, hell he only got a mobile because I made him so he could keep in contact."

Danni blinked, the pieces of the puzzle fitting together in her mind, of course there had to be another person here. It made sense, John McGarrett was a former police officer who according to the people who knew him had kept fit and healthy. Regardless of his age it still would have been difficult to subdue him, set up all the equipment and keep John under wraps but if there had been someone else here, someone who had skills when it came to computers and tracking then that would have left Hesse free to deal with John and taunt his son at the same time. A diversion so they could trace the call. Danni doubted that Steve would have had a disposable phone, why would he have one, no doubt the number they contacted him on was the number which was strictly for his friends and family. It would have been so easy to locate him if the person knew how to.

She glanced up aware of him watching her thoughtfully before something clicked in her mind, something which made her eyes narrow.

"You contaminated my crime scene didn't you?" she demanded watching the way his jaw tensed at her words, she glared at him using her gun to point to the door. "That's it I'm not going to tell you again Commander, You got to go and you got to go now." She stated watching when he shrugged turning and picking up an old looking red tool box from the wooden work bench to the side of him.

"You got it Detective" he stated taking a step towards her.

"Leave the box behind Commander" she said coldly moving to block his exit, a move which seemed to surprise him.

"This?" he said lifting the box up. "I came with this, it belongs to me" Danni breathed out noisily.

"No you didn't" she said slipping past him, she turned to face him when he turned round, pointing her finger at the space where the tool box had been. "You see this, this is a dust void which means that what you're holding was here at the time of the murder which means that it is evidence. Everything in this house is evidence which is why it's not meant to be touched by anyone who isn't a member of the police department or forensic team. Last time I checked Commander you were neither of those things." she stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "What's in the box that is so important to you?" she asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at him.

"How long exactly have you been at the Honolulu PD Detective?" He asked back trying to change the subject.

"How exactly is that any of your damn business?" she demanded, frustration building in her. "I mean are you Barbara Walters in disguise or something? Because if you are I'd love an autograph" she remarked sarcastically.

"It's my damn business if you're the lead detective who has been investigating my father's murder" he said, his eyes moving up and down her before they met her furious gaze, with a look in them that made her bristle up further, her palm was literally itching with the need to hit him.

"I am and I'd really like to get back to finding out who did this, so the sooner you leave then then sooner I can get on with my job Commander."

"Anything you say Detective" he said turning to move with the tool box still in hand.

"Leave the god Damn box behind or get arrested McGarrett" she said, stopping him in his tracks, he looked back at her over his shoulder.

"You gonna call for back up?" he asked curiously. Danni tilted her head to the side.

"I'll be calling you an ambulance" she promised, watching as his eyes widened at her words, he glanced at her before he slowly put the box down on the old car which was partially covered by a woollen blanket. She let out the breath she had been holding. "Thank you" she said

"Oh no Detective, don't thank me quite yet" he remarked causing her to frown. She watched when McGarrett reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a business card which looked as though it had seen better days. Who exactly was he planning on calling? Her Captain? His Commanding Officer? Her feeling of unease grew, surely he knew that it didn't matter who he called over this situation, it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. She and Meka were the lead Detectives in this case and what they said was what went.

McGarrett pulled his mobile out of his pocket, his gaze lowering to the card as he typed the number which had been written on the back of the card. She tilted her head and spoke, unable to remain silent any longer.

"What are you exactly are you doing?" she demanded, her eyes widening at the smug look which came to his face at her comment, he held one hand up, palm facing towards her in the classic stop sign.

"Uh hi yeah, Governor Jamison please, tell her its Steve McGarrett calling.

Danni snorted placing her hands on her hips, her eyes shifting to McGarrett when he took a step towards her. God he was tall, she hated when people loomed over her as though it made them impressive.

"Please" she muttered crossing her arms. "Don't you think Commander that-", her voice trailed off when he pressed a button placing the call on loud speaker just in time for Danni to hear the familiar voice of the Governor.

"Commander Governor Jamison here, what can I do for you?"

"Governor I've decided to take the job" McGarrett said, turning and walking away from her. Danni moved, looking away from the look he was shooting her over his shoulder. She rested her fists against the cool metal of the exposed car trying to resist the urge to punch him in his smug face. She didn't know what the hell was going on but she was getting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she wasn't going to like the outcome when the conversation was over.

She glanced up, meeting McGarrett's eyes when he spoke again.

"Let's just say I found something which changed my mind" he looked away from her to the side "No, no, no I don't want to wait, immediately will do. I'll speak to my Commanding Officer and get transferred immediately to the reserves so I can run your task force for you"

The sinking feeling in her stomach grew at the look of puzzlement which came to the Commander's face.

"What right now?" he said before he shrugged, turning his back to her and holding his hand up and speaking. "I, Steven J McGarrett, Do solemnly declare upon my honour and conscious…" Danni felt her mouth fall open, instantly recognising the oath every policeman had to take when they graduated from the police academy. She could remember speaking the very same words as well. It didn't make sense why an active Navy SEAL would be saying the words though.

He finished the call, turning and picking the tool box off before he glanced at her.

"I think you'll find that this is my crime scene now Detective" he declared, turning and walking out of the garage leaving Danni staring after him with wide eyes.

What the hell had just happened?

* * *

Author Note

**Thanks for reading **


	3. Take the rest of the day

New Beginnings

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes**

Author Note

**Here's the third chapter ready to go!**

**A lot of the chapters will be based on missing scenes in the episode, so this one for example shows what happens after Steve leaves the garage! I know this is touched on in the original written script so I merely expanded it**

**I hope you enjoy it **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**So what you're saying is that you are to blame…?**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**I'm thinking some serious sparks beginning to fly…**

* * *

Chapter Three

Take the rest of the day

* * *

Danni shook her head, her eyes fixed on the empty doorway which McGarrett has walked out of. Her mind was racing trying desperately to figure out when exactly she had lost control of this situation and what the SEAL had meant when he had told her that this was now his crime scene. How could it be his crime scene? Even if he had suddenly become a cop the case would still belong to her wouldn't it?

She reached up gripping the back of her neck with her hand. What exactly had she witnessed here? What task force was McGarrett talking about? There had been no talk from anyone about any new task force being set up. Danni might not have been on speaking terms with the other Detectives but she was still observant and she still listened to their chatter when she was at her desk, one of them would have said something. Hell one of them would have at least applied for it.

The only explanation would be that this was something completely brand new.

Danni breathed out, finally looking away from the door to stare around the room. McGarrett hadn't told her to leave but at the same time she wasn't sure she could stay. She needed to get back to the police department and speak to her Captain so see what her position was and whether she was still the lead on this case. If she was then she would make sure that she handed Steve McGarrett his ass on a plate.

God she hoped it was still hers otherwise all the hard work she had put into the case, the countless sleepless hours spent pouring over reports and crime scene photos from the file which she had made up herself, the hours spent researching every painstaking detail, the leads which she had spotted which would have gone unnoticed if not for her, would be completely obsolete all because of one arrogant navy SEAL.

Danni's eyes narrowed as she thought about Steve McGarrett. What the hell had he been thinking coming to an active crime scene and contaminating it? She refused to believe that he didn't know the proper procedure, Jesus, everyone and their mother knew what to do at a crime scene now thanks to shows like CSI. What really had struck a nerve was him making out that she considered his father's murder a joke and that she wasn't working hard enough at it to solve it. How dare he! She had barely been sleeping or eating focusing all her attention on tracking down Victor Hesse so she could make him pay for what he had done.

She felt a wave of anger wash over her. She should throttle him or at least punch the arrogant sod in the face.

She needed to speak to the Captain, there was always a chance however slim that he could somehow get this case back from the new task force, Danni didn't give a damn about McGarrett or the Governor or whatever secret club they had between them, all she cared about was solving and finishing this case. She knew that the Captain was a close personal friend of Governor Jameson. He could perhaps speak to her and make her see how irregular and unprofessional this was. You didn't take a case away from a Cop unless they were fucking it up and Danni knew without a shadow of a doubt that neither she nor Meka were fucking this case up.

Danni ran her hand down her face, pinching at her lower lip. She would have to speak to Meka as well. This case was just as much his as it was hers and she knew that he was seriously invested in solving it. She wondered how he would take the news when she broke it to him. Would he be pissed off, getting that constipated expression he occasionally got when he wanted to punch something hard or would he merely shake it off like he did with most things in life and merely move onto the next case, dragging Danni with him?

There was no point telling him about it until she knew for certain which meant she needed to leave here and get back to her desk. Danni moved swiftly across the garage floor, closing the door behind her. She hesitated for a moment, looking around her carefully before she set off, her eyes moving rapidly around for any sign of Commander McGarrett. She didn't even know if he was still here, for all she knew he could have taken off the minute he had left her. She couldn't see him but she also knew that it meant nothing. The man was trained to be invisible, he could be right behind her and she doubted she would know until he decided to let her know.

She pulled a face, taking comfort in the familiar sound of that her heels made against the uncarpeted floor before she entered the living room where she had dumped her bag, her eyes sweeping the room, stopping when they landed on the already familiar tall form of McGarrett. Well that answered her question on where he was.

He was standing in front of the window, his head had snapped up at her entry and he now watched her, his face and eyes blank of emotions. He could almost have been made from stone for all he showed her. Danni ignored him, pushing away the feeling of unease which was blossoming in her stomach, as she made her way to the chair. She picked up her bag, taking off her adhesive gloves and chucked them in it before she smoothed the skirt of her dress down. Swallowing she turned, taking a step toward the door before she stopped, raising an eyebrow when she realised that McGarrett now stood between her and the exit.

They stood for a moment in silence, watching each other before he spoke.

"I didn't expect you to still be here" he commented, reaching up and running a hand through his hair. Danni shrugged her shoulders surprised by what he said.

"I was hardly going to leave without my bag" she pointed out. He nodded, glancing down towards it before he looked back at her face.

"I'm going to need the files you created for this case Detective" he said calmly, crossing his arms over his chest. Her eyes dropped involuntary to his muscles before she narrowed her eyes. She remained silent for a moment, counting to five in her mind to stop herself from saying anything which she might end up regretting.

"If you want the files Commander, then I'm afraid you'll have to make your way to the Honolulu police department and collect them from Captain Hookano. I'm sure you already know where that is" she stated coldly. Deciding she had said enough she moved towards him, slipping past him and out the door before he could say anything further to her. It had been a childish thing to say considering that she had the files in her bag and could have easily handed them over but it had been worth it in her mind, the small glimmer of satisfaction she gained from knowing that he would have to go out of his way for something pleased her. The man had to learn that he couldn't have everything he wanted just because he had a pretty face and a nice voice. He had to learn that asking people for their help was the way to go rather than demanding it from them.

Danni left the house, squinting in the bright sunshine. The day was warm so she slipped her cardigan off, enjoying the breeze and the feeling of warmth against her skin as she made her way down the shaded path towards her car. The back of her neck tingled as though someone was watching her but she refused to look back towards the house, instead focusing her attention on unlocking her car and slipping in, slamming the door close behind her. She breathed out, grabbing her sunglasses from the dashboard and slipped them on. Starting her car up and reversing away from the McGarrett house.

The short drive to the police station was uneventful and luckily for her the parking space she had been given was still free, Danni had lost count of the number of times one of the other Detectives had parked in it, stating when she confronted them about it, that they had been on the force longer and therefore deserved it more than some Haole fresh off the mainland. In the end Danni had stopped mentioning it, merely parking somewhere else when it occurred.

She switched the car off, sitting in the seat while she stared out of the windscreen, a frown on her face as her mind jumped back to the topic of Steve McGarrett, refusing to let go of it. Making a sound of annoyance Danni left the car and headed towards the elegant looking building in front of her, a small bitter smile playing around her mouth. She could still remember the first day she had arrived here, how impressed she had been by it all. It had made her old precinct in New Jersey look like a shit hole in comparison but it didn't take her long to realise that looks could be deceiving. Now she merely dreaded coming to the place.

She kept her gaze fixed ahead of her as she made her way across the marble entrance hall towards the elevator ignoring the looks she was receiving, she was more then used to them by now and had learnt to ignore them. She entered the lift when the door opened, letting the people out before she stepped into it, thankful that it was empty. It was only nine thirty in the morning meaning that she should have enough time to dump her bag and grabbed a mug of the disgusting coffee they served in the rec room. Meka had said he was doing something for the Captain so there was always the chance that he would at his desk. She could speak to him, get his input on what to say.

The door pinged open and she stepped into the room, glancing around her automatically. The room was packed as usual with Detectives, all talking loudly together and laughing as they ate or passed paperwork around them. They looked towards her as one before they turned away as one, shifting so they had their backs to her. Danni turned away trying to ignore the feeling of homesickness which came over her. God she missed her old job. There was no doubt that it was a hell of a lot harder back in New Jersey, the cases were messier and far more gruesome then anything that Hawaii had offered her yet. It had been relentless as well, for every case they had closed, at least five more occurred but despite that she had absolutely loved it. She had, had friends back at home, people who she trusted to have her back. People who she had gone out with for drinks and pizza on the evening when Grace had been with her father. She missed that feeling.

Danni moved towards her desk, noting that it was the only neat one in the office, the others were crowded with dirty mugs and paperwork which was spilling over the surface in a random order, she shook her head wondering not for the first time how they could work like that before she pulled out her chair.

"Williams, in my office right now"

Danni winced as the familiar booming voice of Captain Hookano burst across the room, drowning out the mixture of other voice which fell silent at the sound. She threw her bag under her desk and turned, heading towards the Captain's office and ignoring the smirking faces which watched her progress. She tilted her head back as she approached Captain Hookano, he was tall standing well over six foot and built as though he went to the gym religiously every day, either that or the man was on steroids. Sharp black eyes watched her approach carefully. Danni moved passed him into his room, coming to a stop in front of his desk, her back straight as she waited. She heard him close the door and the sound of the blinds being pulled down but she didn't bother looking around.

She watched as he moved around the desk, his movements surprisingly graceful for a man of his size. He sank in the leather chair, watching her intently before he slouched back in it with a sigh.

"So Detective Williams" he began, tapping his hand against the arm rest. "I've just got off the phone with the Governor of Hawaii who was ringing to inform me that she has decided to set up a brand new task force whose sole purpose as far as I can see is to get in the way of us doing our jobs. We are of course meant to assist this task force to the best of our abilities. If they ask us to jump then we are meant to ask them how high."

Danni shifted, frowning slightly as she wondered why the Captain was telling her this. She certainly wasn't one of the people he tended to confide in, if anything they had barely spoken since her first day when he has given her a brief tour around the place and left her in Mika's capable hands. Her mind drifted away from the captain to focus on the conversation she had witnessed between McGarrett and the Governor. She realised with a sickening feeling exactly what the SEAL had been agreeing to.

"You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this" the Captain continued as though he was reading her mind. "The reason why Detective Williams is because the Governor informed me that a certain Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett is taking the lead point on it and running it. The very same Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett who is the only son of the murder victim whose case you are currently trying to solve. Have you met the son yet?" he demanded. Danni shrugged.

"I've met him" she admitted remembering his smug face.

"And when you met the Commander did he happen to mention anything to you about his brand new task force?" he asked in a quiet tone which was so in contrast to his usual tones that it placed her on guard instantly.

"No, not exactly" she said coolly.

"What do you mean exactly by not exactly Detective? Perhaps you could expand on that statement" he remarked, glancing down at his nails as though her answer was unimportant. Danni was good enough though to know that it did matter a great deal.

"I met the Commander this morning when I went back to the crime scene to look into a possible lead on my case. McGarrett was already there. I told him to get the hell out and we had words about it. He called the Governor while I was there and they spoke but I didn't know what they were talking about" she fell silent when the Captain sat forward in the seat, resting his thick forearms on his desk as he linked his fingers together.

"So what you are telling me Detective was that the Commander met you and decided to accept an offer to run a task force because he objected to you telling him to leave an active crime scene and wanted the power to tell you to get out instead."

"He never told me to get out" Danni answered instantly. "He told me that the crime scene was his and that was it"

"So this situation is actually down to you and your mouth then?" Danni frowned.

"No I don't think that true Sir, I –"

"No, no Williams" he interrupted her, holding up his finger to stop her from continuing. "I wasn't asking your opinion on the matter. I was merely telling you. As far as I can see, the Commander met you, he spoke to you and then he agreed to run a task force which he might not have actually agreed to run initially just so he could pull rank on your ass. Clearly you once again managed to make a great impression Detective."

"Well he didn't exactly make a fantastic first impression either Captain" she retorted angrily, lifting up her hands and waving them about her. "The man entered an active crime scene, he tampered with the evidence in that crime scene, moving stuff around when he should have known that he shouldn't have touched anything. Yeah we had words but I was only trying to limit the amount of damage which the man was causing because that is my job! McGarrett might be a SEAL but the man has absolutely no idea on how real police work is done and what's worst is he doesn't even care. He just thinks he can roll in, make some demands and take everything over and that everyone will simply fall into place to please him and it's just not gonna happen" Danni stopped, breathing out slowly as she tried to calm herself, ignoring the look of amusement the Captain was shooting at her. "Look Captain there has to be a way to get this case back from him. I was getting somewhere with this case. I had a solid lead that was actually going somewhere, I-"

"Messed up detective" Captain Hookano snapped, his amusement disappearing as though it had never existed in the first place.

"With all due respect Captain, I didn't mess up. You asked me and Meka to find out who killed John McGarrett and bring the bastard to justice and that is exactly what we have been doing. You only need to look at our files and reports to see how much ground we were actually making on the case." She snapped back, her voice rising with each word in her frustration. No doubt everyone in the other room were listening in but she didn't care. Let them listen if they hadn't nothing better to do. "I am damn good at what I do and I could have solved this case if I only had a few more days, I could have-"

"Could have, should have, would have Danni" he remarked, she gave him a startled look at the use of her Christian name, no one here other than Meka had called her about that, they merely called her Haole or Williams. "The fact of the matter is that regardless of what work you might have done or what you might have found out the simple matter of it all is that this case belongs to Steve McGarrett and his blasted task force whether we agree with it or not. Now you can stand there and rant and rave until you are red in the face, you can stand there and stare at me with big blue eyes and plead all you want but this is now out of my hands. You and Meka are off the case" he sighed, slumping back in his chair as he reached up and ran his hand down his face. "Look, take the rest of the day off Williams. Do something with it, think about what has happened today and be back at your desk first thing tomorrow morning. Meka will have finished the business I gave him to deal with today and back in the office as well so you'll be assigned a new case to solve. Put this one out of your mind and focus on that one instead."

Danni stared at him, feeling as though he had slapped her in the face. She bit down on her lower lip before she forced herself to open her mouth.

"Leave Williams, I don't want to hear what you might have to say this time. I don't want to see you in the building either for the rest of the day, I won't repeat my order to you again."

Danni closed her mouth and gave a curt nod.

"Yes Sir" she replied quietly, turning and opening the door. She stepped out, looking around her automatically, her gaze meeting the familiar pair of hazel eyes belonging to Steve McGarrett, he was standing by her desk, his arms crossed. Danni moved swiftly across the room towards him. "What are you doing here by my desk?" She demanded. "Don't you think you've done enough already? What now you feel the need to rub it in or something?"

McGarrett blinked at her accusing tone before he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm only following your orders Detective, remember you told me to come here and speak to your Captain if I wanted your files? Well I want them"

Danni opened her mouth, closing it when she realised that the Captain had followed her out of the room, coming to a stop behind her. She moved to the side watching as the Captain spoke, his eyes fixed on McGarrett.

"You must be Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, the governor told me over the phone that you would be coming over to see me to discuss something with me" he said smoothly, holding his hand out to McGarrett. Danni watched as McGarrett looked away from her and took the proffered hand, his eyes sharpening as they moved over the Captain's face. Danni couldn't help but wonder what McGarrett saw as he gazed at him.

"I am" he responded neutrally.

"I'm sorry if my Detective has caused you any problems; she is still fairly new here and she doesn't quite understand that things on the Island are done differently than they are on the mainland. Detective Williams please make sure you pass your case files to the commander on your way out of the building. Go and enjoy the rest of your day"

Danni felt her face flush, fighting the urge to tell the Captain to go fuck himself. She stopped herself by reminded herself that she needed this job, she couldn't get fired, not now.

"Now Detective" the captain remarked coldly. "Don't keep the Commander waiting"

God she hated the pair of them.

She reached down and picked up her back, reaching in and grabbing the file, she hesitated for a moment before she held them out to McGarrett. He reached out and took them from her, his eyes flickering from hers to the Captain.

"That's all of them" she stated softly forcing herself to meet his eyes when they turned back to her "I hope you find your father's killer and make him pay" she forced a polite smile to her face turning to the Captain and nodding at him.

She held her head up high, walking away from them and ignoring the comments from the other Detectives. She could barely hear over the rushing in her ears but she knew that whatever they were saying it wouldn't be good.

As she hit the button to call the lift she couldn't help but experience a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that this day was only going to get worse.

* * *

Author Note

**Thanks for reading :)**


	4. We're gonna get along great

The beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes**

Author Note

**I am really enjoying writing this story.**

**It's fascinating writing Danny as a female because it changes everything. I wanted Danni to have a female friend, it always bothered me that the male Danny literally seemed to have no one before joining the task force, it didn't seem right so I decided to change that. Amy, Meka's wife, seemed like the perfect match. Danni was Meka's partner which means that she would have a lot to do with not just Amy but Billy then. Billy who would be the perfect playmate for Grace.**

**Although the story will follow the basic plot of the pilot there is no way it can be the same. Danni being a girl makes that impossible, not only will her interactions with Steve be different but her interactions with the rest of the team will as well. Not only that, but in this story Danni is the primary carer of Grace meaning that Grace lives with her. She's also softer though just as witty as the male version but because she has her daughter with her she is lacking the rage.**

**Anyway I've already started the next chapter so I really hope you enjoy this one and it shows a different side to Danni **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**You have got to be kidding me…**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**Maybe…**

Chapter Four

We're gonna get along great

Danni had no idea where she should go.

The obvious place for her to go would be home but the thought of going back to her empty house and staring at four walls didn't exactly fill her excitement. Grace wouldn't be out of school for another five hours, she had been banned from her work office for the rest of the day and anything which might have kept her occupied at home had already been done over the weekend to keep boredom at bay while Grace had been away. Danni had no idea how people could enjoy having nothing to do, she would have done anything to have a case to sink her teeth into.

She drove for at least thirty minutes before she finally pulled the car to a stop outside Meka's house and got out, slamming the door behind her and locking it out of habit. She glanced up at the house as she made her way up the path towards the front door, a smile coming to her face at the sight of it. She and Grace had, had some really good times here. Danni breathed in the scent of jasmine, allowing the familiar scent to calm her.

Danni climbed the porch steps, lifting her hand up and knocking on the blue door. She glanced around her as she waiting. The sound of footsteps caught her attention and she glanced towards the source just as the door opened revealing Amy, Meka's wife. A look of surprise covered her friend's face before Amy glanced at her carefully, her eyes narrowing slightly before they looked her up and down.

"Danni you look like shit" Amy announced with a shake of her head as she stepped back, holding the door open for Danni. Danni rolled her eyes, stepping through the doorway and allowing her taller friend to pull her in for a hug.

"Thanks" Danni replied. "You always know exactly what to say to make me feel so good" Amy laughed, keeping her hands on Danni's shoulder as she closed the door and used her grip on Danni to push her through the cool hallway towards the back of the house

"That's what friends are for" Amy replied with a disinterested shrug. "You're lucky you caught me Danni, I've literally just got in about five minutes ago from taking Billy to school, they rang earlier and said the teacher was sick so to bring the kids in a hour later, needless to say there are a lot of pissed off parents out there at the moment." she stated, Danni laughed shaking her head.

"No doubt you were leading the charge hey Amy?" she remarked knowingly.

"Of course I was" Amy stated. "On the good note I am free for the next hour or so before I've got to go so if you wanted to hang out and bitch about things then I am all yours sweetie."

"Well that sounds a pretty good plan to me" Danni confessed as she entered the kitchen, Amy squeezed her shoulder before slipping past her and heading to the counter.

"Let's get some coffee into you and you can tell me exactly what's or who has put that look onto your face because you look ready to kick ass and take names."

"Coffee is always welcomed" Danni remarked, pulling out one of the wooden stool surrounding the breakfast bar, she jumped up, resting her elbows on the surface and sighed burying her face into her hands. She remained that way until a large mug of coffee was placed in front of her. Dropping her hands she looked up as Amy took the seat opposite her, her hands wrapped around her own mug.

"What's wrong Danni?" she asked. Danni hesitated for a moment before she shrugged and spoke.

"Me and Meka have been taken off the McGarrett murder case." She stated bluntly with a shrug, biting down on her lower lip at the look of confusion which swept across Amy's features at her words.

"You've been taken off the case?" She repeated with a frown. "Why would you be taken off of it? Meka said last night that you were both beginning to make some headway on it, he said you had found some sort of lead though he didn't go into details obviously."

"We were" Danni stated, tapping her fingertips against the side of the mug. "But clearly not enough for his son. The same son who is apparently extremely buddy buddy with the Governor of this state. Buddy buddy enough that the Governor offered him his own taskforce, an offer which he accepted. Oh and did I happen to mention that this little taskforce of his answers to no one other than the Governor. His first action was to take the case from us so he could do it himself, since he obviously believes that he is so much better then Meka and I at solving cases, the fact that the man has absolutely no experience in the field of police work clearly doesn't matter to him."

Amy whistled.

"I'm surprised you didn't hit him Danni because I would have it had been me" Amy said with a snort.

"I was tempted" Danni admitted with a shrug. "But I can't afford to do anything which might get me in trouble, I've got Grace to think of, what if I had punched him and he got me fired for it? What would me and Grace do then? Go and live with her father? That's a nightmare waiting to happen and one which I could seriously do without having."

"Very true" Amy said. "So why are you here? Not that I don't want you here obviously but I would have thought that by now you'd have a brand new case to focus your attention on?"

"Yeah well the Captain is blaming me for what happened so I've been sent away for the day like a child to think over what happened and to reflect on my actions, I'm allowed back into the office tomorrow though, just not today."

"You're joking me right?" Amy said snorting again when Danni shook her head. "What a dick" she stated bluntly. "Meka said that they've been treating you like shit there, I don't know why you put up with it to be honest with you."

"I can handle that" Danni said. "It's the same wherever you go, it's more annoying than anything else, I find that boys tend to get jealous if you're better than they are at their jobs. The fact that I'm a Haole doesn't endear me to them it's safe to say."

"So what are your plans for now then?" Amy asked. "Since you can't go back to your job?"

"Drink this coffee and then head home I guess. Maybe do some food shopping, Gracie is back tonight so we're planning a girlie night with each other, watch a Disney film, eat a big bowl of pasta and then have some chocolate or maybe I'll treat her to a takeaway, the main thing is that she's with me for it" Amy nodded.

"Duncan's weekend this weekend?" she asked.

"Yeah it was a long weekend" Danni answered with a sigh, she took a sip of her coffee, making a sound of satisfaction in the back of her throat. "You can tell you own a coffee shop" she said with a smile "This is the best stuff on the island by far."

"Only the best for my makamaka" she said with a grin.

"Seriously what are you calling me this time? I swear that you and Meka are exactly the same, is this your way of trying to make me learn the language?" Danni asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow. Amy nodded

"That's the reason" she said "Is it working?"

"Hmmm" Danni said before she changed the subject. "That reminds me are we still on for the beach this weekend? I've sorta mentioned it already to Gracie and she's pretty excited about seeing you all. Apparently Meka has promised to help her and Billy build the best sandcastle that Hawaii has ever seen."

"We have it all planned Danni" Amy stated. "Meet us here at ten, then we're heading straight to the beach, grabbing a shaved ice after some swimming and this time you are so coming in the water with us and then we are all coming back here for a BBQ. You and Gracie can sleep over if you want, that way once Gracie has gone to bed, you can finally let your hair down and have some fun my mekameka. You remember that don't you? How to have fun I mean" Danni shrugged.

"Maybe" she said "I'll definitely bring a change of clothes and stuff just in case we do end up sleeping over" she said.

"You know quite a few people are coming to the BBQ sweetie, it's about time you met some new people. Not everyone is a cop you know. Plus don't you think it's time you got back in the saddle? You know go on a few dates?" Danni breathed out.

"Amy" she said on a sigh.

"Hey I'm just saying, you're a hot woman Danni. Maybe you should live a little, just when Grace isn't around. You are allowed to have a life after all."

"I'll see" Danni said. They spoke for another twenty minutes before Danni drained the rest of her coffee, setting the mug back on the surface and getting to her feet. "I best go" she said "I've got to get the food for tonight" Amy nodded getting to her feet and following Danni down the passage way.

"Call me tonight okay?" Amy said.

"No problem, thanks for the coffee and listen to me moan." Danni replied, smiling at Amy as she left the house, glancing up at the dark sky with a frown.

"That's what I'm here for Sweetie, careful on the way home okay, the sky is about to open" Danni pulled her face.

"Just my luck" she commented, hurrying down the path. She managed to get into her car just as the heavens opened. "God this place" she said out loud to herself, shaking her head. She started the car, waving at Amy before she moved away from the curb. She took it slowly, humming to herself as she pulled up to her house. She got out, running up the path and stopping in surprise when she saw Steve McGarrett leaning against the side of her doorway. "You hate me don't you?" she asked the sky quietly with a sigh "This is a punishment for something." She watched as his eyes snapped up when she came up the path. Danni didn't get it, what the hell was McGarrett doing at her house? There was no doubt that he was waiting for her. For a moment she considered arresting him for stalking but quickly pushed the idea away, there was no way in hell that any court would uphold the charge especially considering it had only been one day.

"You again? What do you want from me now?" She demanded as soon as she was in hearing range of him.

"Is that how you greet everyone who comes to visit you?" He asked her curiously, watching her as she stepped up beside him. Danni opened the front door, stepping into the hallway, she pressed her forearm against her door jam, blocking Steve from following her through the door.

"Only the uninvited ones" she responded, tilting her head to the side. "What do you want exactly? You already have the file I made up, what more do you need from me?" Danni demanded.

"I spoke to your Captain after you left" McGarrett remarked, "He told me that you had made a request for a wire on a guy this morning called Fred Doran, why did you do that? There's clearly something about this guy which caught your attention enough to make the request. I want to know what it is."

Danni bit down on her lower lip, pulling a face. The last thing she needed or wanted was to have this conversation on her doorstep where anyone would be able to hear what they were saying. She had tried to hide what she did for a living from her neighbours knowing that they were the type of people who would knock on her door at all hours, expecting her to revalidate their parking tickets or trying to give her helpful tips which weren't helpful at all. Danni had always tried to leave her job at the office for Grace's sake so that when she was with her daughter she could concentrate strictly on her.

She moved back with a sigh of defeat allowing McGarrett to move past her into her home. Glancing out, she closed the door and led him down the passageway to her living room. She watched as McGarrett glanced around him curiously before he took a step towards one of the picture frames on the mantelpiece which contained a recent picture of her and Grace which had been taken by Amy. They were on the beach, grinning widely at the camera while they hugged. It was one of Danni's favourite pictures of her daughter.

"You have a daughter?" McGarrett remarked in surprise, turning to look at her.

"That is a stunning piece of detective work there" she responded sarcastically. "What gave it away exactly? The pictures littered around my home? The fact that there's a box of Barbie dolls in the corner of the room or perhaps it's the shelf of children novels over there which gave it away to you?" She asked, waving a hand to the side of the room. McGarrett's eyes followed the movement before they focused back on her face.

"It was actually the fact that she looks like you. She's a very pretty girl" he stated calmly, placing the photo back down on the mantelpiece. Danni blinked, tilting her head to the side as she tried to figure out whether she had just been complimented or not.

"Thank you" she said awkwardly. McGarrett reached into the file and pulled out a photo of Fred Doran holding it up so she could see the man's snarling face.

"Tell me about him" McGarrett demanded. Danni shrugged, lowering herself to the sofa as she began to speak.

"Fred Doran is your typical low life scum bag. He's a suspected arms dealer; according to his file he served two years at Maui correctional for weapon possession. There's some evidence gathered on him, linking him to the murder of an American Businessman who was here on a business trip last year. The case fell apart though because they never managed to find the gun."

"What has this got to do with my Dad's murder?" McGarrett asked with a frown.

"Perhaps it has nothing to do with it or perhaps it has everything to do with it" she stated leaning forward as she continue speaking. "You see the first thing I did was run a ballistic comparison on the bullet which the ME retrieved from your father. I wanted to see whether anything came up and what came up was the unsolved Doran investigation. What I think happened was that when Hesse landed on the island, the first thing he did was hook up with Doran and get a weapon from him. I'm sure if you dug deep enough you would find some sort of connection between the two, either they knew each other personally or they knew someone who knew them both. It doesn't matter, what matters is the fact that Hesse went to him and Doran gave him what he wanted. It makes sense, it's what I would do if I had been Hesse."

"And you think that Doran probably still knows where he is?" McGarret remarked. Danni nodded her head, getting back to her feet.

"That's exactly what I think."

"Ok" McGarret said. "Let's go and see him then" he nodded at Danni turning and heading to the door.

"Whoa wait a minute" Danni said, taking a step towards him. "Are you actually crazy? You just took this case away from me and now you actually want me to go with you to speak to speak to this guy? Why would I do that exactly?"

"The captain told me that you had transferred from the New Jersey PD six months ago which means that you see things here in a different way from the other Detectives. You have fresh eyes and fresh idea-"

"Let me stop you there, I don't need a psych analysis from you. I-" Danni's eyes narrowed when McGarrett cut across her.

"You want a psych analysis, how about this. This house is small and probably rented which means that you probably aren't well off. You came here for your daughter, a daughter who lives with you but considering the fact you don't have a wedding ring I think that your daughter's father is here and that is why you had to move. A move which you didn't want but you did for her. You take pride in your job because not only are you good at it but you are the only female detective on the Island which means you are constantly pushing yourself to prove yourself and I need that."

"You need that" Danni scoffed, ignoring how close to the mark he had actually hit with his analysis. "You know what its people like you McGarrett who make my life impossible because you always think you know best when you don't. You don't know anything about police work."

"But you do" McGarrett countered. "Besides Detective, you don't have a choice in the matter. The Governor has given me jurisdiction. I've already made you my partner, don't worry Danni, we're going to get along great" McGarrett remarked, he nodded at her before tuning and strolling away leaving her staring after him with her mouth open.

"What the-"

Author Note

**Hope you enjoyed it **


	5. In the car

The beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes**

Author Note

**So when I started on this project I thought it would be extremely easy to follow the pilot. Turn male Danny into a female Danni and off I go. End of, dialogue might be slightly different to reflect the change but that would be it, everything else would be the same only it wasn't. I began writing and things began changing and there was nothing I could do about it.**

**I am one of those writers who lets a story flow, the characters and the plot line pretty much write itself as I go. This one was slightly different because I had characters who were already established. Personalities were established only they suddenly weren't, they were becoming fluid on me. Steve treats female Danni different from male Danny, that I suppose is a given but I didn't quite expect the vibes Steve was given off towards her to pick up so quickly.**

**Then I made the decision to make Meka Danni's partner because that is what male Danny had told us. Meka was his partner before Steve. So in my mind it was simple. Danni and Meka were partners until Steve swept in and took Danni away to be his own partner. Suddenly Meka is without a partner, there was no way the Meka who was emerging through my writing was gonna let his partner go without at least speaking to her, hence the call in this chapter which isn't in the episode. It never made sense that these two people who were apparently so close in the series that Danny was willing to risk everything to clear Meka's name, never spoke or never hung out as far as I could see. That isn't gonna happen to this Meka and female Danni because neither of them will allow it to happen. Meka is going to regularly be seeing Danni and speaking to her on the phone. I mean they are going to the beach at the weekend! That friendship and the fact that Amy is Danni's best friend (Their decision not mine) was something I never factored into the story because it didn't factor into the episode.**

**Then there's Duncan, Danni's ex-husband. The first thing I decided was that he wouldn't be remarried, I don't know why I made that decision but I did. It could be because every version I tried to write when he was married didn't make sense and didn't flow rightly. Duncan somehow almost became male Danny in a way. A man dedicated to his job and his daughter who somehow managed for whatever reason to convince his ex-wife to move to Hawaii for a year so he could still spend time with his daughter. That was fine, I could live with that. What I didn't expect was that Duncan still had feelings for Danni, feelings which weren't returned by Danni. That was a major surprise for me. I thought they would hate each other instantly just like Danny and Rachel did but they didn't and that changes everything again.**

**I love the fact that this is happening even if I didn't expect it. Somehow it makes them all so much more realistic in my eyes. I literally look forward to every single chapter I write to see what will happen next!**

**Anyway this essay is over so please enjoy!**

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**I'm gonna throw this damn phone out of the window...**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Five

In the car

* * *

"What the hell is that man on?" Danni muttered to herself, her eyes fixed on the doorway. It seems to be a new thing for her, struck dumb with shock as she stared at empty doorways which Steve McGarrett had just breezed through. She was pissed off but that feeling was being drowned out by disbelief as she tried to wrap her head around what he had just told her.

Not only had he taken the case she had been working on from her but now if what he says what true, he had also taken her from Meka without even asking her first. Meka, who she had happily been partnered with and actually had no desire to change, especially not for Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett.

Danni shook her head looking around her living room as though there was something there which could tell her if this was for real or not. She grabbed her mobile and pressed number three of the speed dial waiting impatiently for it to be answered, it was answered after three rings.

"Captain Hookano speaking"

"Captain it's-"

"Williams! It's about time, I've been waiting for you to call" he barked down the phone, interrupting her mid-sentence. "I assume that McGarrett has reached you by now?"

"Yeah he somehow found out where I live and was standing at the door when I got back, how the hell did he get my address in the first place? He said-"

"That you're partners now? Afraid it's true Williams, after you left he asked a few questions about you and demanded that you were transferred to him, I told him no, after all despite the differences we all might have you're still a damn fine Detective but-"

"But?" Danni repeated slowly, torn between pride that the Captain thought she was a damn fine Detective and horror at what she was sure was coming next.

"But McGarrett has the trump card hasn't he Williams" The Captain remarked bitterly, Danni could almost imagine the angry look on his face now as his hand tightened on the phone. "He called the Governor in front of me putting her on loudspeaker, told the Governor that he wanted you to be his partner and that he wouldn't accept anyone else, it was you or nothing. The Governor clearly wants to keep on his good side so she agreed to his demand straight away, she told him that her assistant would send the paperwork over within the hour and that I would sign it. Nothing I can do when the Governor makes a demand, you understand that don't you Detective?"

"Yeah" she said quietly. "But what about Meka? He's my partner, he-"

"He's not your partner anymore Williams, McGarrett is your partner now. As of five minutes ago, you are officially a member of his new task force. Leave Meka to me, I'll break the news to him. I might leave him without a partner at the moment. He's a competent Detective he'll cope; besides we're understaffed now thanks to McGarrett. Keep in touch Williams, you need help just ask, the same way as if I need help I'll ask, understood?"

"Understood Sir" she said, blinking when she heard a click followed by a dial tone in her ear.

Jesus Christ, there was no way around it. She was Steve McGarrett partner. It made no sense why he would want her, someone he had only met once and who he didn't even know. Danni doubted she had made a good impression on him back at the garage, so why did he want her so badly that he would call in the Governor to back him up when the Captain had initially refused his request.

She bit her lip and sighed, pushing the matter from her mind. There was nothing which she could do about it now. It was better for her to focus on the job at hand and deal with the reasons why once Grace was asleep in bed that night.

Moving Danni picked up the bag which she had thrown on the sofa when she had entered the room, making a mental checklist in her mind that she had everything which she needed as she headed to the front door. She stopped by it, bending over and picking up a pair of pale blue pumps which she had kicked off during the week and which matched her cardigan. As much as Danni hated wearing flats due to the fact that she was short enough already, she had the feeling that working with Steve was going to be anything but peaceful, it could involve running, in which case she should at least have a pair of shoes she could sprint in just in case.

She walked out of house, looking up at the sky thankful that the rain storm had dispersed before she closed the door behind her and locked it, glancing down at her watch to see that it was only eleven. She still had four hours until she had to pick her daughter up from school. Heading down the path, she stopped when she noticed McGarrett leaning against her car, arms crossed over his chest as his eyes restlessly moved around him as though he was searching for any threat which might occur.

"You're going to have to move if you want to go anywhere" she called out as she headed towards him, his eyes swinging to her as he lazily stood up straight.

"Oh?" he said, turning to face her, one arm leaning against the roof of her car.

"Yeah" she replied. "I'm good but I haven't quite figured out how to drive a car without actually being in the car to do it, maybe you have but I haven't." McGarrett smirked, holding out his hand towards her, his palm faced up as though he was expecting something. Danni frowned looking down at it. "What?" she asked. "You want a Hi-five?" She questioned looking back up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Is that how you want to start every case because I've got to be honest with you, I like starting the case with a hello and a cup of coffee not a hi five."

There was no mistaking the sudden gleam of amusement which came to his eyes at her comment though his mouth remained straight.

"Keys" he said.

"To?" she countered. "The car? The house? A key to the state of Hawaii because I don't feel comfortable giving you two of those options and unfortunately I don't own the third one. For that key you might have to ring up your buddy the Governor to give it to you."

"I want the keys to the car, I want to drive"

"You want to drive?" She repeated, waving a hand out and looking away as though she was addressing someone else. "He wants to drive he says."

"Are you going to repeat everything I say?" he asked, crossing his arms across his chest again.

"Only when you say something which is so unbelievable that I need to repeat it out loud to know that you have actually said to me" she said. Danni sighed, shifting on her feet as she slipped passed him, one hand on the door handle as she looked at him, reaching out and pushing him lightly away from it, surprised when he allowed himself to be moved back by her. "This car" she said taking her hand back and using it to pat the roof. "Is my second baby after Grace, it was a gift from my parents when we moved to this island. I don't allow anyone to drive it, the only way you will drive it is when I decide to trust you and right now I don't trust you. Therefore the only hands which will be wrapped around the steering wheel will be these hands." She remarked, lifting them up and wriggling her fingers at him. "Now you can get in the passenger seat, you can get in the backseat, hell you can get in the trunk if it takes your fancy but you won't be getting in the driver's seat without my permission anytime soon." She flashed him a smile and pulled the car door open, getting in and closing it behind her. She breathed out quickly before she shoved the key into the ignition and turned it on. A smile coming to her face at the healthy sound it made. She was tempted to rev it but held off. No doubt she would end up enduring a lecture from one of her neighbours about the unnecessary noise if she did.

She glanced at the passenger door as it opened and McGarrett got in.

"Decided against travelling in the trunk?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah maybe the next time" he replied dryly.

"Where do you want to go then?" she asked him.

"Doran's house, according to this he lives on the other end of the island." For a moment Danni was tempted to make a smart aleck comment but she bit it off and put the car into reverse instead, glancing automatically over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't backing into another car. The last thing she needed on top of everything else which had happened to her that day would be a car crash. That would be the final straw.

They drove in silence for five minutes. Danni was fully aware of every move which McGarrett made though she kept her eyes fixed on the bendy road in front of her. She found herself wondering what he was thinking, she risked a quick glance at him thankful that he was staring out of the passenger window. He was frowning at something though god only knew what, she was just glad it wasn't at her. He must have been thinking about his Dad. This whole situation couldn't have been easy for him. Having to investigate your father's own murder, having to learn about his life, about his enemies and all with the knowledge that it was his fault. That if he hadn't have been what he was, a navy SEAL, if he hadn't have been chasing the Hesse brothers then his Dad would have been safe. That burden was enough to crush anyone, even someone like McGarrett. Having to hear his father die on the phone while he could hear but was unable to do anything about it would have been horrific as well.

Danni started when her phone suddenly went off, the familiar sound of Michael Jackson 'Smooth Criminal' breaking the silence in the car. Danni reached down and picked up the phone, answering it without bothering to look at the screen. There was only one person in her life allocated that ring tone.

"Hello Partner" she said, shifting her hand so she could hold the handset comfortably while still driving.

"Well not according to the good old Captain you ain't" Meka stated. Danni's eyebrow rose as she registered the pissed off tone to her friend's voice. Danni could only remember a handful of times when Meka had sounded like that and it had never ended well for anyone involved.

"The Captain has spoken to you then?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Not so much spoken to me as dragged me into his office, ranting for five minutes before he finally got round to telling me that my partner has been nabbed by some hotshot navy SEAL who suddenly seems to be someone important. Some hotshot who first act was to take not only my partner but the case we've been working our asses on trying to solve for the past week."

"Yeah, it hasn't quite been the day I had envisioned when I woke up this morning that's for sure." She said softly, glancing to the side of her to see that McGarrett was staring at her with an intent expression on his face. She looked away from him.

"Okay you're freaking me out Danni, I expected you to be ranting about this and hitting the roof. You're too quiet, it's not right hoaloha, not for you" he stated "Is McGarrett with you? Is that it?"

"Yep we're in my car" she said. There was a moment's silence before Meka spoke.

"Okay, call me when he's not around and we'll talk. We can meet tonight or something and catch a beer."

"Oh you can count on it" Danni promised him. "I'll call you later okay. Take care today partner, don't do anything I wouldn't do okay?" she said, hanging up after his goodbye.

"Your ex-partner?" Steve asked curiously. Danni nodded her head, gripping the steering wheel tightly with her hands.

"My pissed off ex-partner" she clarified with a shrug. She opened her mouth to speak again when her phone went off for a second time. She sighed recognising the psycho theme tune instantly. "Could this day get any worse if it tried?" she muttered to herself, jabbing her finger on the connect button. She brought the phone to her ear and spoke. "Yes dear, what can I do for you this fine morning?"

"There's no need to be like that Elle" Duncan replied, causing her to roll her eyes in response.

"Why are you ringing Duncan?" She demanded, ignoring his comment. "We spoke earlier, you could have told me whatever you needed to tell me when we spoke then."

"Well I didn't know what I know now when I spoke to you then Elle. I didn't realise it was a crime to speak to your wife on the phone."

"Ex-wife Duncan" she corrected automatically. "What important piece of information, have you found out since this morning then that you can't possibly wait?"

"I've just been told by my boss that we're having an event this afternoon which starts at four. I was originally going to ask you to be my date but I can imagine the list of reasons you would give me to say no so instead I want to take Grace with me. I'd pick her up from school and drop her off at yours when the event finishes at seven. I can even take her for dinner so you won't have to worry about feeding her anything."

"Duncan" Danni said slowly, wishing that this conversation was happening anywhere else other than her car with her new boss listening to every word she said while acting like he wasn't. "Your evening with our daughter is on a Wednesday. Today as I'm sure you're aware is Monday."

"I'm aware of the day Elle" Duncan replied tersely.

"I'm glad you are. So what you've rang to tell me is that you want to swap your day with Grace from Wednesday to today so she can be your date to a work event?" she clarified. "Because if that is what you're saying then I'll need to call the school and ask them to give Grace a message that you are picking her up instead of me."

"Why can't I just have her both days for once Elle?" he demanded angrily "I am Grace's father."

"Yes you're her father" Danni agreed coldly. "And I'm her mother and this was the custody arrangement which we made and agreed to when I agreed to us moving here because of your work. I am not being unreasonable so stop trying to make out like I am. Now yes Duncan you can take our daughter to this work event of yours, yes you can pick her up at her school at three, yes you can take her out and feed her and yes you can drop her off at home at seven but no you cannot have her Wednesday and today, its either today or Wednesday so make your choice." There was a moment's silence.

"You're being a bitch" he said "Asking to have her two evenings is not an unreasonable request Danielle". Danni made a short sound of frustration at the comment. The man was like a freaking broken record.

"Calling me a bitch doesn't change anything Duncan" Danni said shortly. "Now are you picking Grace up tonight or not?" she asked.

"I'll have her tonight instead Elle."

"Okay" she said "I'll ring the school then and let them know. And I want her back with me by seven Duncan, I mean it. I don't want you rolling up with her at seven fifteen or anything else. She needs to be in my house by seven. Don't let her eat rich food either, you know what she gets like when she has some. She'll be up all night with a stomach ache and I'm sure we can both agree that we don't want that."

"Okay Elle, I'll see you tonight. Be safe" Danni dropped her phone to the side of her with a groan as she reached up and rubbed at her eyes. She could feel a headache brewing.

"I take it that your marriage didn't end well?" Steve asked quietly. Danni glanced at him sharply taking in the curious look in his eyes.

"I'm not discussing my marriage with you McGarrett" she stated. "We're here on this pineapple infested island due to Duncan's job, end of" Steve raised an eyebrow at her.

"Wait are you telling me that you don't like the beach?" he asked, leaning towards her.

"Never said that" she responded.

"That means you don't like the beach, who doesn't like the beach?" he stated. Danni breathed out noisily.

"Again I didn't say that. I happen to prefer cities. I like skyscrapers McGarrett, I like parks, I like experiencing the seasons and seeing them change in front of my eyes. I love the snow and in case you haven't noticed there isn't anything like that in Hawaii. In a city I don't have to spend all my time worrying about tsunamis or jellyfish or-"

"Tell me you at least know how to swim" Steve interrupted.

"Of course I know how to swim" she snapped back. "I make the conscious decision not to swim in shark infested waters. I swim for survival, I don't swim for fun" Danni groaned when her phone rang again. "I am throwing this out the god damn window"

"Or you could just turn it off?" Steve suggested with a shrug. Danni shot him a glare as she answered the call.

"What?" she demanded

"Mamma?"

"Oh baby" she said, her voice softening attracting Steve's attention back to her. "I'm sorry, it's been one of those mornings. Are you okay? Are you on break?"

"I am. I just wanted to tell you that everyone loved Mr Hoppy."

"I'm glad everybody loved Mr Hoppy baby" she said. "We'll have to go out tomorrow and pick him up a hutch for him to live in won't we?" she remarked, silently cursing Duncan in her mind. Where the hell was she going to keep a rabbit? The garden was tiny as it was, add a hutch in and it was going to make things harder.

"Can we go tonight after school Mamma?" Grace asked.

"No baby. Your Daddy rang, he wants to have you tonight instead of Wednesday. He wants to take you to an event at his work."

"Mamma" Grace said, her voice turning into a whine. "I don't want to go, I want to stay with you tonight and watch a movie."

"I know Gracie but he really wants you to go with him and then he'll drop you off afterwards. You won't be with him on Wednesday so it will be just the two of us. I've spoken to Auntie Amy as well and it's definitely on for the weekend. We're gonna have so much fun" Grace sighed.

"Okay Mamma, is Daddy coming to pick me up from school?"

"Yeah, he'll be picking you up at three. You know your Daddy loves spending time with you Gracie. I'm sure you'll have a great time and when you get back you can tell me all about it okay?" she said, picturing Grace nodding in her mind.

"Okay Mamma."

"Chin up baby, it's gonna be fine I promise" she said gently. "Now enjoy the rest of your break. Danno loves you baby"

"Love you too" Grace said. Danny slowly lowered the phone.

"Who is Danno?" Steve asked making her jump, she had forgotten he was with her for a moment.

"Just don't ok? I not in the mood right now" McGarrett nodded.

"Okay" he said

"Okay" Danni repeated, pressing her foot down on the accelerator. The sooner they got to Doran's house the better.

"Danno" she heard him repeat to himself softly, a considering tone to his voice which placed her on edge.

Great, just great.

* * *

Author Note

**Yay another chapter finished!**

**Hope you enjoy it **


	6. This is how it's done

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes**

Author Note

**Three main points to state:**

**1) I went to the doctor today and he's signed me off for ten days from work, perhaps longer than that depending on stuff which is rubbish for me obviously but actually good for you guys because I'm going to try and update a chapter a day. If I could finish the story within ten days then that's my goal. It will keep me nicely occupied and my mind away from my problem.**

**2) So this is the first time the story has diverged from the pilot, I didn't expect it to happen but it just happened. Looking back I guess it was stupid to think that I could keep it the same as the pilot. I mean female Danni is becoming extremely different from male Danny and yet I never planned it that way. They are both sarcastic and dedicated to Grace and their job but other than that, they are going separate ways. Female Danni isn't so willing to look the other way when it comes to procedure. She a lot calmer than male Danny, most likely because she is the full time carer of Grace. She got a gentle side to her as well which is rarely seen in male Danny and she has friends who want to spend time with her. I didn't expect that but that what happens when you write I guess. She also treats Steve differently and Steve treats her differently so that's highly intriguing for me. I mean I know male Danny and Steve are touchy but it seems to be nothing on Steve and Danni even at this early stage. **

**3) After this chapter, McGarrett will become Steve, mainly for my sanity to be honest lol but also because it's reflecting the change in the way that Danni views Steve. The feeling of trust between male Danny and Steve happened quickly in the series and it appears to the same for female Danni and Steve.**

**So here we go! Things from now on will change. The overall ending should remain the same but how they actually get there… well that's gonna change.**

**Enjoy **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Not the best idea there…**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Six

This is how it's done

* * *

The minute Danni pulled up to the area where Doran lives was the very minute that she wanted to do an U turn and drive away from there without even a glance back at it in her side mirrors. The whole area gave off a vibe that made the slight feeling of unease in her stomach blossom until it was churning. Danni had learnt to listen to her instincts and right now every instinct which she possessed was telling her that this situation was going to end badly for someone.

She killed the engine and peered through the window screen, her eyes focusing on the run down trailers in front of her. People milled around the front of the car, turning to stare at them with distrustful, suspicious looks which did nothing to ease the unease in Danni. She had seen these looks before on the streets of New Jersey, on the faces of people who were willing to fight to the death if it meant protecting what they considered theirs. They definitely would turn on two Haoles without a moment's thought if they felt threatened by them, especially since one of those Haoles was a woman.

This was the kind of place where you needed a strong uniform presence to keep trouble at bay which was something they didn't have. Hell, Danni would have given anything to have even one extra person with them but that wasn't going to happen since McGarrett hadn't even rang the request into the head office. It was just the two of them and that wasn't a good thing in Danni's book.

Danni bit down on her lower lip, glancing towards McGarrett. He looked cool and calm through she was hardly surprised. He had clearly faced much worst then this and survived, something like this must have been a walk in the park for him. She watched as he pulled out his gun and checked it, sparing her a glance before he opened the door. He was out of it before she could blink clearly expecting her to follow him.

"Hey!" she called out, undoing her seatbelt and leaning across the passenger seat. She heard him sigh before he twisted round, bending down, one hand resting on the top of the door, his eyes fixed on her with a waiting expression as he raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "What exactly do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "Get the hell back in the car so we can come up with some sort of plan. We can't go racing into there with our guns blazing, we won't make it back out, at least not without some sort of injury which neither of us are going to want."

"We don't need a plan when it's this simple" he told her. "We find Doran's trailer, we arrest him and then we get our answers from him" he said. Her eyes widened at him.

"What about back up?" she asked him "In case you haven't noticed there's only two of us here."

"You're the backup" Steve responded flashing her a smile as he stood up straight and closed the door leaving Danni in a stunned silence.

"I'm the backup" she repeated to herself, her heart thumping as adrenaline started coursing round her body. "I hate him, I actually hate him"

For a split second Danni seriously considered leaving McGarrett here and coming back for him later but she quickly dismissed the thought, the man was her partner whether she wanted him to be or not. He was counting on her to have his back. Cursing under her breathe, Danni kicked off her heels and grabbed her flats from her bag, slipping them on. She opened the door and got out, shutting it and locking it behind her out of habit.

She could see McGarrett striding ahead, his head moving side to side as he looked around him, no doubt searching for a sign of either Doran or his trailer. Danni shook her head hurrying after him. She slipped around him, reaching up and placing her palm against his chest, stopping him in his tracks.

"Will you just stop for a moment? You don't even know which way you're meant to be heading! Do you see now why it's a good idea to have a plan before just strolling into things? Plans are good McGarrett, plans stops mistakes from occurring. Plans also stop people being shot. Personally I like plans so can we please discuss one right now before we do anything rash?"

McGarrett glanced down at her hand, making no move to remove it as he looked up to her face and began speaking.

"As I said before the plan is simple, we find Doran and we make him talk."

"We make him talk?" she repeated waving her free hand around her. "How exactly do you plan to make him talk? I hate to tell you Commander but the techniques the army taught you to make him talk aren't actually legal here in the real world. We cannot touch him, do you get that? If we want any information from him that can be used in court then we need to make him talk another way that doesn't involve in physical violence."

"I'm in the Navy" McGarret pointed out. Danni blinked, dropping her hand from his chest.

"Are you joking me?" she demanded in frustration. "That is what you take from what I just said to you?" Danni shook her head. "Right now I don't care if you were in the army or the navy or the bloody air force, I just don't want us to screw up here by doing something stupid" she reached up and ran a hand down her face, wondering how this could be her life now. She glanced towards the area which McGarrett had been heading towards "Beside you're going the wrong way. That is number forty, the house next to it is forty two, we want to be going the other way. According to the file on Doran he lives at number thirty two which would be that way." She waved a hand towards the left.

McGarrett's eyes narrowed at her before they flickered away focusing on the trailer numbers. He frowned, turning back and glaring at her. Danni stared back with an impassive look, crossing her arms over her chest waiting for him to say something.

"Hey Beautiful, I'm thinking that you might be ever so slightly lost. We don't get many girls like you in these parts." Danni looked away from McGarrett, her eyes focusing on the group of young men who had gathered in front of one of the trailers to the side of them. There were about seven of them in total, the eldest looked to be in his mid-twenties while the youngest couldn't have been more than fifteen.

"Oh I'm not lost, I happen to know exactly where I'm going unlike some people I know." She said, reaching down and grabbing McGarrett's wrist when he made a movement to the side of her, her nails digging into the soft flesh though she didn't bother looking at him, he'd get the hint. She smiled at the group.

"Are you sure? You know we know everything about this place!"

"Do you?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "You must know Fred Doran then?" she caught the look of unease which passed between the boys at the name.

"Are you cops?" one of the younger boys asked.

"No" McGarrett answered. The boys shared another look, their gaze moving from McGarrett to Danni as though they found her the safer option to speak to.

"He lives down there" the speaker said, lifting a finger and pointing in the same direction which Danni had suggested. "You should be careful though, Big D don't like women, especially Haole women."

"I'll be okay" Danni replied with a shrug "Thanks for the info." They nodded taking another look at each other before they hurried away, clearly wanting to put space between them and what was about to go down, Danni could hardly blame them. She let go of McGarrett's wrist, her gaze fixed on the area which they had indicated to them.

"I'm surprised they gave up that information so quickly to us" McGarrett commented staring after the boy's, Danni shrugged.

"I'm not" she stated. "Doran is clearly the big man on campus here, those boys were terrified of him, and with Doran gone it means they are safe. Even more important is the fact that the women in their lives are safe from him. You heard them, Doran hates women. No doubt he was abused as a child by his mother or a female relative. If it was his mother then he probably hated and loved her in equal measure. Wanting her approval but hating the fact that he wanted or needed that approval. He hates women as a results, probably despises any woman who happens to be a mother as well. It's a classic tale" Danni glanced at McGarrett who was staring at her. His face was fixed into its usual emotionless look but she could see a gleam in his eyes. A gleam that almost looked like he was impressed. "What?" she asked "I'm more than just a pretty face you know."

"So I see" McGarrett answered, his eyes moving across her features with an almost warm look which took her by surprise. He looked away from her, his eyes hardening as he looked towards the trailer. "Ready?" he asked. Danni shrugged with a sigh.

"As ready as I'll ever be" she replied. McGarrett moved passed her, brushed lightly against her, his attention fixed on the trailer. Danni breathed out and followed him. If she had known in advance that her day was going to end up like this then she would have worn trousers, or even better have stayed in bed.

McGarrett stopped suddenly, grabbing Danni by the arm and pulling her back into the shadows, his gaze fixed on the trailer. Danni glanced past him in time to see a young blond woman slam the door of the trailer open. She was dressed in a pair of shorts and a bikini top, her hair was blond and tangled and there was a fresh bruise on her face which looked painful.

"I'm done with you and all your shit, you've ruined by life" she screamed over her shoulder as she took the porch steps two at a time. The door behind her slammed open again with such force that Danni was surprised it didn't come off its hinges.

"There's our man" she murmured softly as Fred Doran emerged, his face twisted into an expression of rage.

"Jaycee, get your ass back here, I'm not finished with you yet" he screamed at the girl, leaning over the rotting porch bannister.

"Well I'm finished with you" she yelled back.

"You'll be back bitch, you always come running" Doran turned and stormed back into the house. Danni blinked

"Happy relationship there then" she remarked. McGarrett nodded, squeezing her arm before he let go of it.

"He's nothing we can't deal with" he said, making a move to head to the house.

"Again with the rushing" Danni said grabbing his arm. "We need to be logical about this situation. We can't go kicking down doors and threatening him. Not only is Doran clearly unhinged but he is also a weapon smuggler remember? He probably has about fifty loaded weapons in there within his reach which he would be more than happy to use on the pair of us if he got the chance."

McGarrett sighed and turned back to her.

"What do you suggest then?" he queried "We go and knock on his door and ask nicely to be let in so we can talk to him and then arrest him?"

"Exactly" she said ignoring his sarcastic tone. "All we need is to get into that house McGarrett and then he's ours."

"How do you make that out?" he asked.

"Illegal guns" she replied instantly. "I highly doubt that he has a licence for every weapon on his property and I bet that if CSU were to test those weapons at least half of them would come back as linked to ongoing cases. We get in, we arrest him and then we nail the son of a bitch to the wall. He'll go away for life, you'll get time alone with him to question him and gain everything he knows about Hesse. I get to go home tonight, uninjured so I can see my daughter, it's a win-win situation for everyone. Well" she amended "Not for Fred Doran but he's scum so his opinion doesn't really matter in the scale of things."

"And if he shoots us, which is likely?" McGarrett asked. Danni shrugged her shoulders.

"Well then he would have forced our hands wouldn't he, we shoot the bastard preferably in a non-fatal area of the body, though if he shoots at me then I give you permission to shoot him in an area which would be extremely painful. I've got confidence in you that you will be able to manage that."

"I could manage that" he answered with a half-smile before he jerked his head towards the trailer. "Can we finally go and get Doran now Danni?" he asked, Danni nodded, her eyes widening when she realise that McGarrett had called her by her given name for the first time. Her shoulders slumped, if he was going to start calling her Danni then she would be forced to call hi Steve. He lightly pulled his arm from her grasp and heading to the trailer, stopping and plastering himself against the faded red boards. "Have you got your gun?" he asked her in an undertone.

"Have I got my gun?" she hissed back. "Bit late to be asking me if I have my gun isn't it. Luckily for you I'm a professional, I always have my gun on me."

"Where exactly?" he asked, his eyes flickering up and down her body.

"It doesn't matter where. All that matters is that I have my gun, now let's get going, I'd like to get this over and done with so I can go home at a reasonable hour to see Grace."

"You talk a lot don't you?" McGarrett responded absently, Danni rolled her eyes at him before they moved up the stairs to the door, Danni straightened her spine, wishing she had her heels on as she reached up and knocked smartly on the door. She glanced to the side of her, a smile coming to her face when she saw the constipated look on McGarrett's face, clearly this was going against every instinct he had.

"One more attempt then the doors is yours" she said to McGarrett, noticing the way his eyes lit up at her words. She lifted her arm, stopping when she heard Doran's voice on the other side.

"I told you would be back bitch, you just can't keep away from me, no one else would put up with your shit, I-" the door flung open, revealing Doran, his voice trailing off when he caught sight of them both.

"Please don't do anything stupid" Danni warned when his body tensed up. "You can't reach a gun quick enough to use, we however can and we will shoot you."

Doran's cold eyes focused on her, his eyes narrowing.

"I don't talk to cops Bitch, especially not female Haole ones."

"Well I don't particularly like talking to scumbags like you but it appears that we all have to do things we don't want to do today. Now you're going to invite us into your house. If you don't then I'm going to step back and allow my partner here to deal with you the way they were taught to deal with troublemakers in the Navy SEALS. I'm sure you don't want that, I don't particularly want that because of the paperwork which is bound to be involved. In fact the only person who would want that is Steve and I should warn you in advance that he really doesn't like you and I get the impression that he shoots people he doesn't like. It's your choice though I'd suggest you choose my way."

She waited as Doran looked between them. He growled low in his throat, his hands curling into fists at his side as he looked at McGarrett before he took a step back.

"Come in" he said through gritted teeth.

"Why thank you" Danni remarked, she took a step forward stopping when McGarrett moved in front of her, blocking her from Doran with his own body. She rolled her eyes at the act before she followed him into the room.

She glanced around her, her nose wrinkling up at the state of the trailer. God the place was a tip. She moved around McGarrett, her attention fixed on the low table where she spotted a suspicious looking white powder. Suspicious white powder which Danni would bet her inheritance on being drugs. She shook her head, there were guns everywhere.

"I'm not interested in you" McGarrett stated, a deadly tone to his voice which sent a shiver down Danni's spine.

"Then what the hell do you and your little bitch want? I've got nothing to say to either of you."

"You gave a man called Victor Hesse a weapon, I want you tell me where he is, tell me and I'll leave you in my partner's capable hands. She's a lot gentler then I am."

"I'm not telling you shit so how about you get the fuck out of my trailer now before I start shooting you."

"We can do this the hard way or the easy way, personally I'd prefer the hard way but my partner seems to believe that you at least deserve the chance to do the right thing, so I suggest you speak or I'm going to start making you speak."

"And I suggest you read my lips, I'm not telling you a damn th – what the hell are you doing Bitch? Get away from there!"

Danni calmly finished pulling on her adhesive gloves before she bent to the table, tilting her head to the side as she reached out and took a small pinch of the white powder between her fingertips, grinding it together. She glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Drugs Fred?" she said "Didn't your mother ever tell you that you can get in a whole heap of trouble for that?"

"I said get away from there" he said, making a movement towards her. Danni blinked in surprise, one minute Doran had been rushing towards her then next he was on his knees, his arm wrenched behind his back, a groan of pain escaping his mouth. Danni's eyes widened as she tilted her head back to look at McGarrett.

"Going for my partner is a really bad move" McGarrett growled as he pulled the arm up further causing Doran to cry out again. Danni slowly got to her feet, pulling off the gloves.

"I'm going to kill you, you fucking bitch" Doran promised glaring at her. Danni forced herself to smile back sweetly at him.

"Please continue giving me reasons to arrest your ass. At the moment I've got you on drugs, possession of illegal weapons, attempting to assault a member of the Governor's task force, erm am I missing anything that you can think of Steve?" she asked the navy SEAL.

"You could add being an accomplice to a murder, withholding evidence from the authorities during an ongoing investigation, being a general dickhead" Danni nodded thoughtfully.

"Very true" she agreed. "And that's before the death threats you've made against us both. You got him?" she asked Steve who nodded at her. "Good" Danni reached into the pocket of her dress, grabbing her handcuffs and moved towards them.

"Do anything stupid and I'll break your arm" Steve promised. Danni moved behind him, snapping the cuff down hard on the wrist which Steve was holding before she dragged it down and cuffed the other wrist.

"Get up" she said. "You" she said pointing at Steve "Hold onto this idiot for a moment. I'm going to call for back up, you know like we should have done in the beginning." She stated pushing Doran to Steve who caught him. She took out her mobile and brought it up to her ear, glancing towards Steve with a smile. "and very cute little macho routine there Steve" she said, turning and walking out of the trailer into the sunlight as she pressed the connect button, a smile lingering around her mouth.

Perhaps McGarrett could be taught after all.

* * *

Author Note

**Hope you liked it!**

***runs and hides***


	7. Aftermath

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed the last chapter, I was afraid that people wouldn't like the way it was going so it's a relief that people did!**

**Writing this story is so much fun especially now that I'm going my own way. The difficulty is knowing that I have to lose certain scenes from the pilot because they simply don't fit into the story anymore. I'm sorry for this but I will try and add other scenes in to make up for it.**

**I like the thought of Danni having a life and friends before she meets Steve and joins the taskforce. The other Detectives on the force might have hated her or at least been jealous of her but that doesn't mean that everyone else feels the same way, hence why the character of Ryan is introduce. Right now I have no idea about Danni and Ryan, all I know is that they are friends. I assume they'll let me know as I write what there is between them if there is anything. I do after love a jealous Steve.**

**I am really enjoying this which makes me think that if I can get it finished then I might do the same thing to episode two. Having two men on the team and two females will definitely change the way things go. I know there's sparks between Danni and Steve, I think that is becoming obvious but I don't know when they will get together. I've no doubt they will but I'm not sure for example whether they will kiss in this story. My first instinct is no, it's simply too early and if this does become a series then they'll have more chance to build on this but we shall see, I've said no to things before and they have ended up happening.**

**Just remember that whatever happens Steve and Danni are the end game because that makes sense and that seems to be the way the characters are headed themselves!**

**Please enjoy the chapter!**

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**We just need twenty minutes that's all**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Seven

Aftermath

* * *

"So let me get this straight Williams, you and Lieutenant Commander McGarrett, went to the home of Fred Doran without a warrant and without phoning it in here for backup, you then somehow convinced the son of a bitch to let you into his home and then you proceeded to arrest his ass for what exactly?" Captain Hookano's voice trailed off as though he had finally run out of steam, a fact which wouldn't have surprised Danni considering the man had been ranting down the phone line for the past five minutes. Danni thought she spoke a lot when she got going but she was nothing on the Captain. She waited a split second but when he remained silent she spoke.

"Where exactly do you want me to begin?" She asked resting her forearms against the bannister and sighing. "For a start we've got him on illegal weapons, that's a given" There was a slight pause as the Captain digested this.

"You're positive that they are illegal Williams, he doesn't have permits stashed away has he? The last thing I want is for this case to fall apart like the last one on him did because of a lack of evidence. I want this son of a bitch behind bars, you understand me Williams?"

"I understand" she replied. "You haven't seen this place Captain, everywhere you look there's a weapon, nearly all of them are loaded and I'm willing to bet a month's salary that they had been discharged sometime within the past few months. I can't see anyone granting Doran a permit for fifty guns, hell I'd be surprised if they would have granted him even one permit considering his past record."

"That's something you'll have to look into yourself, we don't have the resources to go through fifty plus guns, checking them all for permits."

"I've got it covered" she replied.

"Good, what else have you got on him?"

"There's a white powder on the table which looks as though its drugs, I can't test it obviously but from the feel of the powder and the general look of it, I'm thinking that it's probably cocaine. He had undoubtedly been planning on using it and hadn't expected any visitors so he didn't bother hiding it."

"The lab will test that and confirm whether it is or not" the Captain said thoughtfully.

"It wouldn't surprise me if we found more stuff on him here. I mean considering what we already have him on already, it's safe to say that he's going away for a long time this time Captain, there's no way he can weasel his way out of here because I'm not going to let him. I'm going to crucify the son of a bitch and then throw him in a cell to rot."

"Music to my ears Williams" the Captain replied. "What do you need from me"

"CSU and some uniformed police officer. There's a crowd forming around the trailer" she admitted, looking up over the bannister. "They don't look like they are about to kick off but I don't want to leave anything to chance, the sight of some uniforms will keep them under control."

"Done, I'll contact Ryan and his little CSU squints to get over to you and also some uniforms, it should take them about five minutes or so."

"Thanks Captain."

"Don't thank me yet" he responded. "I shouldn't be helping you at all, because your new partner is making his disregard for this police force completely clear but I will on this one occasion because you asked for it, this is the last time though Williams. If you and McGarrett choose to do it alone then you can both deal with it alone."

"Noted" she responded, rolling her eyes when he hung up on her. Danni looked back up, eyes moving across the growing crowd. Clearly news of Doran's arrest had spread through the neighbourhood. She moved her gaze over their features, noting them for future reference in case trouble kicked off. She doubted it though but she could never be sure.

She turned away from them and headed back into the trailer, her eyes automatically finding Steve. He had throw Doran into a chair in the corner and had gagged him with something, tying whatever it was around the back of Doran's head so he couldn't spit it out. His face was red but Danni was pretty sure that was down to anger if the muffled sound emerging from his mouth was anything to go by.

"You've gagged him?" she asked curiously. Steve nodded his head as he looked around the trailer, one eye kept on Doran at all times. Danni had the feeling that if Doran made so much of a single move on that chair then Steve would be over there in a flash unleashing hell on him. The knowledge made her feel strangely safe. It also amused her that Doran was clearly scared of him.

"Yeah he's like you Danni, he wouldn't shut up so I gagged him to shut him up! Now I can actually think" Danni made a sound of annoyance.

"I can't believe you've just likened me to this scumbag" she said angrily

"Don't worry I wouldn't gag you" Steve replied ignoring her comment with a shrug. "Your voice isn't grating like his is thankfully."

Danni frowned.

"Are you saying that you like the sound of my voice?" she inquired.

"I like it more than his voice" he said. Danni glanced back at Doran before she looked back at Steve "Did you ring it in?" he asked her, abruptly changing the subject.

"Yeah I did, I also endured one of the captain's long winded rants over the fact that we didn't call this in before it happened."

"You don't answer to Captain Hookano anymore Danni, I'm your new boss now so you answer strictly to me, so the next time that Captain Hookano gives you grief over a decision which I made then I want you to hand the phone over to me and I'll deal with him. You know what this isn't even a request, this is an order."

"Yeah like that is ever gonna happen" she scoffed. "You plus Captain Hookano is an explosion which is just waiting to happen and one which I could seriously do without. Do me a favour Steve, for the sake of my sanity let me deal with the police department and Captain Hookano is the need arrives, I know what I'm doing when it comes to them."

"You can deal with them if you want Danni but if he treats you badly then I will deal with him regardless of what you might want. No one messes with you while you're on my team." Danni blinked, shaking her head. He sounded dispassionate, almost absent as though he wasn't even paying attention to what he was saying. Danni tried to ignore the warm feeling that his words evoked in her. The last thing that Danni wanted was to start crushing on her boss.

"Right I'll bear that in mind then" Danni said briskly. She looked around her ignoring Doran's eyes which were fixed on her. She could just imagine what was going around his mind and the thought made a chill go down her spine.

"You do that" Steve answered glancing over at her. For an instant Danni allowed herself to stare back at him before she made herself look away.

"The Captain is sending CSU over and some uniforms to help keep the crowd at bay in case they decide to turn nasty."

"Crowd?" Steve repeated with a raised eyebrow as he hunched down to the table, his eyes focused on the powder which Danni had discovered earlier. "This is definitely drugs" he said.

"Yeah Steve I'm well aware of that fact considering that I was the one who told you that there were drugs on the table in the first place. Do you listen to anything I say to you or do you just listen to the sound of my voice because you happen to like the tone?"

"The crowd?" Steve pressed, ignoring her comment again. Danni forced herself to breathe out before she spoke keeping her annoyance out of her voice with difficulty.

"There's a crowd outside which has been steadily growing since we came in here, clearly Doran's arrest is big news here." She remarked.

"I want us to investigate the trailer first" Steve said, getting to his feet and strolling over to her. "I want us to look around this place before CSU get at it, if there's something to find here in regards to Hesse then I want us to be the one to find it." Danni shrugged, tilting her head back so she could see into Steve's face, picking up on his determined expression.

"Ok as you said you're the boss. I'll see what I can do. Ryan is the lead CSU agent coming down here according to the Captain. I can speak to him when he arrives. He'll probably give us twenty minutes or so as long as we follow procedure. You do know the proper procedure around a crime scene don't you? Because the last time you were at a crime scene you really didn't do that good. Moving evidence, threatening the lead detective, need I go on?"

"See I disagree because it seems to me that it worked out extremely well for me" he replied, the warm tone in his voice which she had heard earlier emerging again.

"Yeah well I'm glad it did for one of us" she replied watching as Steve's mouth turned up into a half smile. There was a moment's silence before Steve spoke again

"So why would this Ryan be so willing to do what you ask?" he questioned, his smile disappearing as though it had never existed. Danni pulled a face.

"Let's get one thing straight McGarret" she said, placing her hands on her hips as she glared up at him. "We might be partners but it doesn't mean that I'm going to share everything about myself with you, so do us both a favour and don't bother asking me personal questions ok? If I want to tell you something then I'll tell you understood?"

"You're kind of sensitive aren't you or are you just sensitive over this Ryan guy?" Steve asked mildly. Danni opened her mouth to speak but closed it, twisting her head round and staring out of the door as she heard the familiar sound of sirens indicating that their back up had finally arrived.

"Well better late then later" she muttered to herself before she spoke louder "CSU and the uniforms have arrived" she turned back to Steve and jabbed her finger into his chest. "Don't think this conversation about privacy is over buddy, I've still got a lot more to say to you about it!" She moved past him and headed over to Doran and grabbed him by his arm. "Get up" she demanded. For a moment she considered leaving the gag in but she reached up and took it off, throwing it over to Steve who caught it with one hand.

"I'm gonna kill the fucking pair of you and I'm gonna make sure it's real slow and painful for you bitch, you'll be screaming for me to kill you by the end of it and I'll make your boyfriend over there watches while I do it."

"That speech would be a whole lot more impressive if you weren't currently shitting yourself over what's about to happen to you. Threaten all you want buddy, you're ours now. The only thing you have to look forward to now is life in prison and that's only after Steve has finished with you. I wouldn't want to be left alone with him in a room when he wants answers, especially as I can't guarantee that I'll be with him all the time to keep him in line. I might leave the pair of you to it while I go and get a coffee or something." she said mildly pushing him across the room and out into the sunshine where two uniformed policeman were waiting to take him. "Book him please" she said, raising her voice so she could be heard over the stream of curses which were coming out of Doran's mouth, each one sounding more desperate then the last.

"Where do you want us to bring him for questioning Detective Williams? The station?"

"Take him to the Aliiolani Hale" Steve answered for her coming to her side. "That where our team is going to be based."

"Right" The man replied, turning and dragging the swearing Doran towards one of the near police squad cars.

"The Aliiolani Hale? The place with the big statue outside of it?" Danni asked. "That's a nice place" she pointed out. Steve nodded his head.

"Wait until you see your office Danni" he said smugly. Danni turned to him, her eyes widening.

"Wait, you're telling me that I actually am going to have my own office?" She queried, impressed despite herself. Steve nodded, the half-smile from before coming back to his face as he looked down at her.

"A corner office with a view or at least that's what the Governor assistant told me when she rang earlier to confirm the details. See Danni it's not going to be that bad being my partner is it?"

"That remains to be seen" she answered. "But I must admit, a corner office with a view is definitely a perk." She looked away from him as the CSU van pulled up. "Looks like Ryan had just arrived, I'll go and talk to him and then we'll get started with the trailer. I know it might be hard but can you at least try not to do anything stupid while I'm gone? And by stupid I mean like throwing your weight around because you have jurisdiction and making all the uniformed policemen hate us, we need them on side and besides we really don't need any more drama today, I think we've already had enough don't you?"

"Your trust in me is overwhelming" Steve answered dryly. Danni smiled at him before she made her way down the steps and towards the stationary van, her eyes fixed on the tall, white male who had just jumped out of the passenger seat.

Ryan Moore had been on the island for two years, he had come from Boston originally but he had been wooed to Hawaii by a big fat wage increase and the promise of working in constant sunshine and learning to surf. Danni had met him on a crime scene about four months previously and they had become fast friends, bonding over the fact that they were both Haoles on an island which had made its feelings on Haoles incredibly clear. She watched as Ryan looked around him, his grey eyes moving over the scene with a clinical look which disappeared when he spotted Dannie moving towards him.

"Hey Jersey" he called out taking a step towards her. "I should have known that you would have been here. The Captain's been foaming at the mouth and there's only one Detective who can get him that riled up and I'm staring straight at her."

"I'm hurt that you think I could be involved in the Captain's foul mood" she stated, placing a hand over her heart. "You of all people know that I'm not responsible for much that goes on with the other Detectives, that would mean them talking to me and including me in their chats."

"Okay, maybe not all of it but at least eighty percent of it is down to you Jersey" he responded, reaching up and running his hand through his dark hair as she came to a stop by him. "I hear on the old grapevine that you've been stolen away from the department and are now a brand new member on the brand new Governor Taskforce. Is that the famous Steve McGarrett up there, he's different from what I thought he would be like. I thought he would be older". He stated nodding his head towards the porch. Danni glanced over her shoulder to see Steve talking to two uniformed policeman who both looked extremely unimpressed by whatever Steve was saying to them. He had his arms crossed over his chest but his eyes were fixed on Danni and Ryan with a frown.

"I need to ask you a favour Boston" she said turning back to Ryan.

"Oh?" he said suspiciously. "Do I need to remind you what happened the last time you asked me for a favour?" he queried with a twinkle in his eyes. Danni smiled.

"It's nothing quite like that. Me and the boss just need twenty minutes with the trailer before you and your guys get in there."

"You want twenty minutes?" he repeated with a frown. "Why do you need it Jersey? You know that as soon as CSU arrive at any crime scene then it's theirs until they release it to the police. This scene" he said waving a hand to the trailer. "Is officially mine now and I've got a job to do here, just as much as you have a job to do."

"I know, trust me I know and I know that you're gunning to get in there because you always are but all I want is twenty minutes, we haven't even secured the area for you yet so just think of it as me and Steve securing it for you but just taking a while to do it. I mean I would be a terrible friend if I let you walk into danger wouldn't I" she pointed out.

"Sweeten the deal" he responded crossing his arms over this chest. Danni shrugged.

"Steve would appreciate it and having the leader of the new Governor Taskforce owe you a favour which can be cashed in at any time isn't exactly a bad thing to have."

"Well that would be a good thing but it's not quite enough Danni, I mean I could get in trouble for this." he stated, Danni thought for a moment.

"What if I invited you to beach on Saturday followed by a BBQ at Meka's would you consider it then?" she asked. Ryan tilted his head to the side appearing to consider her offer.

"You've got yourself a deal" he said "But only because I want to ensure the safety of my team. Go and secure that building Jersey, you've got twenty minutes and I mean twenty"

"Thanks" she said, reaching past him into the van and grabbing two fresh pairs of adhesive gloves. "I owe you Boston!"

"Yes you do" he replied. "Now stop wasting time and get in there already" Danni nodded, turning and walking back to the trailer. She could hear Ryan behind her ordering his team to start looking at the perimeter of the trailer to see whether there was anything there which could be used for evidence. She moved around the policemen and smiled at them, ignoring the fact that they were glaring at Steve and that Steve was glaring right back at them.

"We've got twenty minutes Steve" she announced brightly. "Put these on and let's go" she moved her eyes to the policemen "Hey guys, would you mind providing some support to the CSU team over there? They are gonna start with the perimeter so they could probably use some uniform presence just in case something goes wrong."

"Yeah we can do that" the older of the two policemen responded, Danni nodded and turned away from them, heading back into the trailer, pulling her gloves on at the same time. She glanced around the room before she looked back at Steve.

"What are you looking for exactly?" she asked.

"Anything which links him to Hesse" he replied "Papers, pictures anything no matter how insignificant it might initially appear. I doubt we'll find anything, Doran is probably too smart to leave it hanging around in plain sight but we might get lucky, you never know." Danni nodded, heading through to the bedroom.

The first thing she saw was an used needle by the bedside table though whether it belonged to Doran or the girl who had stormed out of there before they had arrived was beyond her ability to decide. The sheets were still rumpled clearly from a busy night and there were clothes and cans of beers thrown everywhere. She headed over to the desk, pushing the porn magazines out of the way and grabbed a stack of the paperwork which was underneath it. Flicking through, she could see some bills and some names but nothing with the words Victor Hesse on it. They had more than enough to put Doran away for a long time but it would be harder to make a case against Hesse using him, without any ties Doran could simply say that Hesse stole the gun or that he had never seen it before. The only way to link the two of them would be to obtain a confession and Danni wasn't sure whether they would be able to do that. If Doran had any sense he would have already lawyered up.

"Danni!" Danni moved instantly, hurrying back into the living room to see Steve standing by a partially concealed door which had been padlocked shut. His gun was out ready to be used. Danni lifted up the bottom of her dress slightly, slipping the gun out of her thigh hoister and pointing it at the door.

"Go on" she said moving forward so she was at a better angle to shoot if there was something within the door which could be a threat to them. "I've got you covered" she added when Steve continued to stare at her, a look of surprise in his eyes. "What is it?" she asked.

"You keep your gun in a thigh hoister?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Danni blinked.

"Are you serious?" She demanded. "There could be anything behind that door and you're asking me about where I choose to keep my gun?" she shook her head "You're unbelievable, yes when I wear a dress I wear my gun in a thigh hoister. It's easier for me. If I had known that we were going to be shooting things today then I would have worn trousers." She snapped "Now can we focus?"

"Of course" Steve replied turning back to the door "Personally I like the dress, it's cute."

"Carry on talking and I will shoot you myself" she promised him, cursing silently when she felt her cheeks burn. She glared at Steve when he looked over his shoulder at her before he turned and shot the padlock off, using his hand to rip it off. He glanced at Danni with a questioning look only pulling the door open when she nodded.

She watched his body tense, moving to the side of him so she could see what they were dealing with as he hunched down, his movements slow and easy. She could hear him speaking quietly firstly in English and then in another language which sounded like Mandarin though she couldn't quite catch what he was saying. Danni glanced into the cupboard her eyes widening when she saw the frightened girl within. She was thin, probably no older than seventeen though Danni was pretty sure she was younger. Her wrists had been cuffed together and linked around a pipe and were scraped raw, dried blood down her arms. Her dress was filthy and torn and there was a wild frightened look in her eyes and she flinched back away from Steve.

"Steve" she said in shock.

"Looks like we've got him on yet another charge Danni" Steve remarked softly "The bastard in the human trafficking trade as well. God know how many girls have made their way through his door."

"That son of a bitch" Danni said, her voice shaking from anger. She turned without thinking and stormed out of the trailer barely noticing where she was going.

She'd nail Doran to the wall for this if it was the last thing which she did.

* * *

Author Note

**Hope you enjoyed!**


	8. I know what I'm talking about

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**I'm a massive Hawaii 50 fan though I haven't gotten around to watching season three yet (I'm getting it for Christmas) but I've noticed that after season one things seemed to change, not the dynamic between Steve and Danny but more the fact that Danny who is meant to be an amazing Detective, never seems to show it anymore. I mean Steve didn't make Danny his partner for no reason so I can only assume that it's the reason why he did originally was because Danny was that good.**

**So my Danni, is a very good Detective, now that I'm moved away from the original plot I can explore this aspect of her more and I'm enjoying it. **

**Not just that but writing Danni interacting with other people is interesting as well. Her relationship with Meka is very much a brother and sister relationship and I wanted to show that in this chapter!**

**Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Just listen to me**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Eight

I know what I'm talking about

* * *

Danni stormed out of the trailer, taking the porch steps two at a time, she couldn't remember the last time a case had gotten to her like this. She couldn't stop thinking about what that girl inside must have endured and how frightened she must have been. She had been taken away from everything she had known to a strange country where she didn't even speak the language and then given to a monster like Doran. A monster like Doran who hated woman, if he treated someone like Danni like she was scum then god only knew how he would treat a girl who had no one who would miss her if she was gone. Was the girl even the first to have been locked in that room or was she simply one in a long line of victims who no one even knew about.

She wished Doran was still there so she could punch the fucker in the face. She should have let Steve at him, if anyone could have made Doran suffer then she was sure that it would be her partner. However Doran was safely on his way to their interrogation room. Danni's eyes narrowed as she took her phone out from her pocket and pressed the speed dial.

"Hello you've reached Honolulu police department, how can I direct your call today?"

"Hello Lily, it's Detective Danni Williams from Homicide, or at least I was from Homicide, now I'm on the new Governor's taskforce. Anyway I'm rambling, could you patch me through to Joe Keliikoa? He's currently on his way to Aliiolani Hale with a prisoner"

"Hello Danni, we heard about your promotion, good job girl! You were wasted with those jerks. I've got Joe waiting so I'll patch you through, call me later when you're off work and we'll go for a glass of wine or something."

"Sounds good Lily" she replied, tapping her fingers against the back of her phone. She looked over her shoulder towards the open doorway. Steve was helping the girl to her feet, Danni watched him gently wrap a blanket around the girl's thin shoulders. She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. She had no idea that Steve had it in him to be so gentle.

"Hello Detective Williams, this is Lieutenant Keliikoa speaking, how can I help you?"

"Everything going okay with the prisoner?" she asked, turning away from watching Steve and heading across the uneven ground towards where she had parked her car.

"Everything is fine though he won't shut up" came the reply. Danni nodded his head.

"When you drop him off at Aliiolani Hale can you do me a favour Joe? I want you to find the worst interrogation room there for him. I think I heard someone say once that some of them have no windows in them? I want you to find that room and stick him in there, then I want you to dim the lights so he's almost in darkness and turn the heating right down so he's cold. It shouldn't take much considering he's a Hawaiian natives." She heard Joe whistle on the other end of the line.

"He must have done something to piss you off Detective for you to ask that."

"He has a fifteen year old trafficked victim locked in a cupboard and tied up like she was a dog. So yeah Joe he's pissed me off." There was a moment's silence which was broken by Joe, all laughter and ease gone from his voice.

"Leave it to me Detective, we've got your back"

"Good and Joe?" she waited until he made a noise indicating he was listening. "If Doran should accidently walk into a door, well that would simply be too bad wouldn't it?"

"Yeah it would be a shame. Me and Jimmy will wait until you and your partner get here. We'll stand guard outside. This son of a bitch isn't going nowhere Detective."

"Good I knew I could count on you. We'll be with you within the hour. Bye" She hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment before she nodded. She came to a stop by her car and leaned forward, resting her hands on top of the roof and allowing it to support her weight as she focused on her breathing trying to reign her anger in. She had to remain focused and professional and not let the case suck her in. It was difficult though with the thoughts of her daughter racing around her head. A daughter she suddenly needed to hear speak just so she could reassure herself that she was safe. She glanced at her watch and shook her head. Grace would be in her lessons now. If Danni rang her then it would only freak her out.

She straightened her body, turning round so she was facing the crime scene again, her eyes moving over everyone working. She rested her back against the side of the car and bit down on her lower lip. She wondered briefly where Steve was but pushed the thought away. He was clearly dealing either with the girl or he was looking around the trailer for anything which they could use. She knew she should head over there and help him search but she couldn't force herself to move.

"Hmmmm I've seen that look before hoaloha, you're planning on kicking some ass. What's put that look on your face? The McGarrett murder case or is this simply your latest plot to scare the crowds away with a look because I've got to be honest Danni, it seems to be working," Danni turned her head and raised her eyebrow as Meka walked towards her.

"I would kick your ass but unfortunately your choice in shirts is actually blinding me. I mean orange and red? Really? I'm surprised Amy lets you leave the house dressed like that."

"Haha, this is how people dress here Danni, we don't dress all fancy like you do. I mean a dress in Hawaii when you work for the police department, I mean who actually does that?"

"Professionals" Danni responded blandly. "Besides Hawaii is hot, a dress is perfect for the weather"

"Not when you're running around the place and taking down scum like Doran" he pointed out. "Does McGarrett know you keep your weapon on a thigh hoister when you wear a dress or is that a little secret for him to find out?" Danni smirked and cross her arms over her chest.

"He knows" she replied. "In fairness to myself though when I dressed this morning I had thought that all I would be doing is going to the McGarrett crime scene and heading into the office for a day of file hunting and paperwork, I didn't quite expect to end up here" she pointed out, waving a hand around her to indicate the crowded scene.

"That's true" he said with a shrug, leaning against the side of the car next to her.

"So why are you here? Checking up on me? Don't tell me you're missing me already big guy, it hasn't even been a day yet."

"I barely noticed you were gone, I was too busy enjoying the peace and quiet" he answered with a grin before he sighed. "I'm here because the good old captain sent me. He's not about to let your new man get all of the credit on this, he's looking for promotion after all. If he has a detective here then at least he can say that he had involvement in it. He asked for a volunteer and I volunteered since I had finished his other task. I thought there was a chance I might bump into you here and if I didn't then at least I was out of the office and all that bullshit politics for a while."

"I hate politics" Danni stated with a shake of her head. "The Captain wanting a finger in the pie doesn't surprise me though. He'll probably be credited with the glory of the whole bust. Steve doesn't strike me as the kind of man who cares about medals and glory and all that stuff. He probably won't even notice if the Captain is rewarded for this. He's too focused on his goal of catching Hesse. Right now nothing else matters to him. I honestly think he'll do whatever it takes to put the man behind bars."

"Are you sure it's behind bars he wants to put him and not six feet under?" Meka asked casually. Danni shrugged her shoulder.

"If he did want that then who could blame him?" She asked turning to look at him. "The man killed his father in cold blood. You saw the report from the ME Meka, Hesse tortured John McGarrett for hours before he killed him. He shot him in the face while his son listened on the phone unable to do anything. For a man like Steve, the damage that must have done doesn't bear thinking about. All these years of training, of serving his country and he can't even help the one person he would want to help more than anyone. Beside if a man like Victor Hesse died then who would mourn him? Perhaps a man like Victor Hesse is better off dead then behind bars where he can still have an influence on people."

"Danni, you're a cop. If McGarrett goes to shoot him then you need to stop him unless you want your new partner to be done for murder." Danni nodded her head.

"I know" she said reaching up and rubbing her eyes. "I just understand how he feels you know? I mean if it had been Grace or if it had been Amy then wouldn't you want the same thing? To find the bastard who took your life and make him suffer."

"I get that but you've got to be careful Hoaloha that you don't get caught up in his obsession." Meka remarked sounding concerned "A man on a mission is not a good thing. He gets so focused on his mission that he forgets about the people who could get hurt in the process. In this case you. You have a daughter who loves you and needs you around Danni, you are not a person who can afford to take stupid, unneeded risks. For the record, going into Fred Doran's gun filled trailer without any backup is considered a stupid risk and I know you know that."

"Alright Dad" she said with a sigh. "Look I know okay, you don't need to lecture me like I'm a kid. Strangely enough I do know what I'm doing besides you're acting like I asked to be put on this taskforce. I didn't. Steve wanted to come here and so we're here. As I said he's driven but that's not a bad thing when you're dealing with a case. I'd rather have someone who is driven and willing to get things done."

"And if he bends the rules?" Meka asked

"Then I'll make sure he unbends them and that he follows the law."

"I just don't get why he chose you to be his partner out of everyone. I mean he literally could have had anyone."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence partner" Danni remarked dryly.

"I'm not insulting you Hoaloha, anyone with eyes can see that you're an awesome Detective, why do you think the others hate you so much, it's because you make the lazy bastards actually have to work to keep up and they don't like that. They like being lazy and using the excuse of Island time as their excuse. It's just you never met and you meet once and then he's taken you as his partner. It's just abrupt that's all."

"You'll have to ask him why because I've got no idea. He seems to do what he wants and that's that. There's nothing I can do about any of this so I might as well just get through this case and figure out what to do after it."

"Yeah" Meka said on a sigh as he reached up and ran his hand over the top of his shaved hair. "I don't need to tell you what will happen if you don't keep in touch do I?" he remarked glancing down at his nail. "I pretty sure Amy would be round your house in an instant dragging you round by your hair if she thought you weren't spending enough time with us." Danni made a sound of amusement.

"Who exactly do you think you're speaking to? Not only am I not going to disappear but you're gonna see so much of me that you'll be sick of the sight of me. I'll need to hang out with people who aren't crazy like super SEAL over there. Besides you two are the some of the only people on this Island who will actually speak to me. I'm an unwelcomed Haole remember?" she remarked dispassionately before she suddenly grinned." Besides your wife scares the shit out of me. I'd rather go up against fifty Fred Dorans then one pissed off Amy Hanamoa.

"It's their loss Danni" he replied instantly, slapping his hand down on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

"Yeah, yeah" she remarked with a wave of her hand, ignoring the fact that she could feel her face flush. "Don't go and turn soft on me now Meka. I saw Amy this morning after I was booted out of the station by the Captain and she filled me in on the plans for Saturday."

"Do you remember the plans?" he asked suspiciously "Because when you aren't keen on going to something you tend to suddenly forget plans" he pointed out.

"Not fair" she replied "I always have a good excuse for it" she winked. "But yeah I remember, we are meeting at your house at ten with swim gear and sleeping over gear, then we head down to the beach for most of the day and then back to yours for a BBQ and a few drinks once Gracie has gone to bed. Hope you don't mind but I invited Ryan to come as well."

"Ryan Moore from CSU?" he asked with a thoughtful frown.

"The very same" she replied, glancing at him when he made a knowing noise at the back of his throat. "Oh don't even think it, we're just friends. I had to ask him so we could get the trailer for twenty minutes."

"So you did it by asking him to come out with you and your kid for a day with a group of friends" Danni nodded.

"Yes, you know group of friends is the key series of words there. He's just a friend."

"If you say so" Meka replied. Danni shot him a quick look before she poked her finger into his chest. "Don't you dare tell Amy about this, I don't want a phone call from her grilling me over something which isn't even happening. Me and Ryan are friends nothing more." She stated firmly before she changed the subject back to what they had previously been talking about. "I hear from Gracie that you have agreed to help her build a sandcastle on Saturday. I can't let me daughter down by not turning up and letting her build it with her Uncle Meka can I?"

"Damn straight, just you wait until you see the sand castle we're going to build Hoaloha, even you're going to be impressed. Me and Grace and Billy have something to prove to the state of Hawaii."

"Oh?" she said raising an eyebrow. "And pray tell me what my seven year old daughter could possibly have to prove to the state of Hawaii?"

"We need to prove that the three of us can build the best sand castle on the whole island obviously. We've been planning this for weeks now, we've even drawn a design or it. Your little Gracie is quite the mini dictator when she gets going just like her mother."

"There's nothing wrong with knowing what you want" Danni replied with a smile. "Duncan isn't exactly the best role model when it comes to stuff like that."

"Danni it's time for us to go" Danni looked away from Meka to see Steve approaching them, his eyes moving between Danni and Meka with a slight frown on his face.

"Of course it is" she said, standing up straight as she looked down at her watch. "I'm assuming you want to head back to the office now or is there somewhere else you want to try first?" she asked looking up at him.

"The office" Steve answered, keeping his eyes fixed on Steve.

"Oh right you probably don't know each other, Steve this is my partner Detective Meka Hanamoa. Meka this is Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett"

"You mean your former partner" Steve corrected his eyes flickering to Danni before he looked back at Meka and nodded at him.

"That would be me" Meka replied, his smile becoming fixed as he met Steve's eyes. Danni looked between the two of them before she rolled her eyes at the pair of them.

"Well I hate to break up this strange male ritual thing you are both currently having with each other but we should really go Steve." She said, reaching out and wrapping her hand around Steve's arm and pulled on it. For a moment Steve remained rooted to the spot, ignoring her effort to make him pull him away from Meka. "Steve" she said, he sighed and looked away from Meka, allowing her to pull away from him. She gave him a slight push around the car before she looked back a Meka with a smile.

"Sorry we have to go Meka, I'll see you soon okay?"

"Yeah you will Hoaloha, I'll be seeing you on Saturday, ten at ours yeah. Let Ryan know the details" she said.

"Me and Gracie will be there" she confirmed. "If you, Amy and Billy are around tomorrow why don't you come round for dinner? It's just going to be the pair of us so you're more than welcome."

"Sound good but I'll speak to Amy tonight and confirm for definite" Meka replied pushing himself off the car and stretching his arms above his head. "Time for this Detective to go and earn his pay. Take care of yourself Hoaloha. Goodbye Commander" he said his voice cooling as he looked at Steve over the top of the car. Danni waved at him before she climbed into the car and started the engine. She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. She reversed the car, nodding at Ryan when he looked up and waved at her.

The drove for a few minutes before Danni spoke.

"Did you manage to get everything which you needed to get from there?" she asked, sparing Steve a quick glance from the corner of her eye.

"There was nothing in there which would link Doran to Hesse" Steve answered, a flat tone coming to his voice. She looked over at him noticing that the hand resting on his thigh has curled into a fist. For an instant Danni wanted to reach out and cover his hand with hers but she resisted the impulse. From the way he was holding himself, it was clear that any human touch would not be welcome at that moment.

"Well that's not a surprise, I mean you said before we started looking that you didn't expect to find anything." She pointed out with a shrug, bringing her attention back to the road as she tried to remember the best way to get to the Aliiolani Hale from where they currently were. "You know Doran isn't going anywhere anytime soon Steve" she pointed out gently when he remained silent. "We've got him on so many charges already that the only thing he has to look forward to is a life staring at the same four walls, hopefully in solitary with no windows. I know Ryan and his team will find more things back at the trailer to nail him with as well because he's just that good at what he does. You are going to get your chance with him to make him talk. We both will and we will make him talk. We will find out where Hesse is and then we will find out where the leader of this trafficking ring is. I'd bet my badge on the fact that Victor Hesse and this trafficking ring are somehow connected to each other. If we find one then we will definitely find the other."

Steve looked over at her, his eyes looking dark in the bright sunlight. He seemed to be considering her words carefully before he spoke.

"You think that Hesse used the already established trafficking route to enter Hawaii?"

"Yeah I do, and don't play dumb I know you've come to the same conclusion as me as well, it's the only one which makes any sort of sense."

"Whoever is running this ring is good" Steve said. "He's managed to remain below the radar until now. If he could get all those Chinese immigrants without being seen then it would be easy enough for him to sneak two men in."

"Two men?" Danni said, "You mean Hesse and the computer guy who said was with him at your father's house?"

"Finding the pair of them is all that matters Danni."

"No" Danni replied with a frown, "That's not all that matters here Steve" she turned to look at him, meeting his eyes before she looked back at the road. "We need to close that trafficking ring down so that no one has to gone through what that girl had gone through. I have a daughter Steve, if that was Grace in there then I don't know what I would do. Well that's a lie actually I'd know exactly what I would do, I would find everyone involved and I would kill them nice and slowly for it. The jail time I would do would be worth it."

"We are going to do both Danni, we're going to find Hesse and close the ring down" Steve promised before he suddenly frowned. "Where exactly are you going?" he demanded.

"What do you mean where am I going?" she responded with a frown, "I am in the process of driving the pair of us to Aliiolani Hale so we can get to work on solving this case."

"The Aliiolani Hale building isn't this way Danni, you need to take the next left here" he said, lifting his hand up and pointing past her. Danni growled smacking his hand out of her way.

"I know exactly where I'm going" She said "We continue down this road and then we turn left at the top. When we turn left we continue down the road and then boom we're there!"

"I've lived here all my life Danni and you've only been here for six months, I think I know where I'm going more then you so perhaps you should just listen to me."

"What the hell does that have anything to do with it? You've been gone for ages, you could easily have forgotten how to her there. I mean don't get me wrong, it's nothing to be embarrassed about forgetting the way to somewhere Steve, I believe it happens to a lot of men who are getting on in age"

"I'm thirty three" he stated.

"Older than me" she responded. "And if you try and backseat drive again then I will be forced to hit you very hard somewhere."

"I'm in the passenger seat, not in the backseat" he pointed out, smiling when she turned to glare at him.

"You will be getting a punch, but I'm not gonna tell you when, it will be when you're least expecting it and it will hurt."

"Just pull over Danni and let me drive, I can get us there within minutes"

"What did I tell you about my car?" she snapped "You are not driving my car so just sit there and be quiet, you're beginning to me a headache."

"You're telling me to be quiet?" Steve remarked in disbelief. "You're the one who speaks all of the time Danni"

"So?" she answered with a frown. "You're the one who likes the sound of my voice." She said, flicking on the indicator and turning the car into the Aliiolani Hale car park. "Voila" she said pulling into a space near the entrance of the building. "Well will you look at that, it would seem that your sense of direction is off Commander" she said, flashing him a smile as she grabbed her bag and exited the car. She bent over, slipping off her flats and putting her heels back on.

"I knew exactly where I was going" Steve said, "If we had turned left when I told you to turn left them we would have been here earlier, you took the long route."

"Right, right, whatever you say" She said, shaking her head as she turned and headed to the building. "What floor are we based on then?" She asked him, glancing over her shoulder.

"We have the second floor" Steve answered, coming up on her right hand side and matching his walking pace to hers. "The interrogation room is on the basement floor so I'm going to head down there and get us some answers."

"No" Danni said, reaching up and grabbing his arm. Steve stopped and looked around at her, a pissed off look coming to his face as she met his eyes. "We are going to both go up to the second floor and talk about this and how we're going do it. We're going to look over the files and then come up with a plan of action before we go after him. Doran isn't going anywhere Steve."

"Hesse is though. I know him. I spent five years chasing him across the world. He's going to try and get off the island and if he does then he will be lost. Doran is currently our only lead and you just want to leave him down there when you know he has the answers we need" Steve demanded angrily.

"Yes" Danni retorted. "Look I have no idea why you made me your partner and right now I don't particularly care. The fact of the matter is you did, so you need to listen to me. I know you want answers. I understand that feeling completely, hell I would want exactly the same thing but we have to look at this logically."

"Danni-" Steve began

"Yes" Danni said. "I know you want to bash his head in and when he gives us the answers we need then you can go at him and bash him up all you want. But right now we're going to do this the right way. Doran is currently sitting in a cold room without any windows. He's alone down there with nothing to distract him from his thoughts, not even a view. All he had is his thoughts and the knowledge that we are tearing his place apart looking for anything which can be used against him. That will be killing him. The longer we leave him in that room, the longer he'll have to think and to get angry. Angry people always mess up Steve, they can't help it. Angry people reveal stuff which they never had any intention of revealing. Right now I'm willing to bet Doran is going to be very angry and very worried. Worried enough that he might give up Hesse to save his sorry little skin. He expects us to do it the way you want it done, he expects us to rush in there all guns blazing, showing him all our cards. My way is better Steve. All I'm asking for is one hour, if this method doesn't work then we'll do it your way. Let's use this hour to look at every piece of information we have on the fucker so we can use it against him. Knowledge is power and Doran is the kind of person who responds to power."

There was a moment's silence before a slight smile came to Steve's mouth.

"This is one of the reasons why I made you my partner Danni." He remarked placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it before he turned and walked away from her towards the glass entrance.

"One of the reasons?" she called after him "What are the other reasons?"

He ignored her, entering the building and leaving her staring after him.

"Bastard" she muttered to herself as she glanced around the car park and heading into the building after him.

They had work to do.

* * *

Author Note

**Hope you enjoyed it! **


	9. I can work with that

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**Here's the next chapter. I can't believe that this story has over fifty reviews, I never expected that at all so thank you very much!**

**I'm thinking that this story will be about twenty-thirty chapters long by the end of it. We'll be meeting Chin soon which should be good fun, I've been waiting to write the interaction between Danni and Chin for a while now.**

**I put this chapter in because I wanted to show Danni and Steve beginning to work together as a partnership, there's still some bumps but they are getting there. It's been interesting writing Steve in this story, I know at times it might have come across as though I'm bashing Steve but I promise you I'm not. I love Steve but this story is written from Danni's sole point of view and she has just met him and he didn't make the best first impression. The more she gets to know him the more that will change. It will be the same in the next story, which will be done strictly from Steve's point of view. There won't be any chapters from Danni, the same way that there are no chapters from Steve in this chapter.**

**Anyway please enjoy!**

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Two minds are better than one…**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Nine

I can work with that

* * *

"Whoa, I've never actually realise how nice this place is on the inside, I mean it looks lovely on the outside but this? This has the potential to be a really nice place to work don't you think?" Danni demanded, twirling round on the spot as she took in the area which Steve had led her to. It was a large room with plenty of windows which was allowing the natural light to pour in. It had been painted a neutral colour which was a mixture between white and cream which helped with the illusion of space. She could see four different offices made up of glass and dark wood which would allow them all to see each other while maintaining their separating areas. Only one of the offices had any furniture in, the rest were empty. There was a large area in the middle of the room where a medium sized wooden table had been placed which she assumed would be the gathering place for them all.

"It's a place to work" Steve said with a shrug, his gaze fixed on her face watching her reaction to the place.

"A place to work?" She repeated shaking her head. "If you want to have a happy workforce Steve then you need to make sure the place they work in is good. You know like a home away from home" she said, taking a step towards the end of the room. "Is that a kitchen area?" she demanded. "Because if it is then we need to make sure that there is a coffee machine put in there, I can't focus in the morning without at least two cups of coffee in me."

"We're allowed to decorate the place" Steve said. "I was going to leave it like it is but if you want to have a go at it to make it that happy work place for you then knock yourself out, just let me have the reports at the end so I can sign them off and send them off to the Governor."

"Wait" Danni said, turning round to face him with wide eyes. "You would let me decorate this place to suit me? What about you?"

"I lived on an aircraft carrier Danni, I'm seriously not fussed about the colour of the walls, anything would do me. It clearly would bother you though so go for it, I want you to be happy here" he said simply. Danni stared at him for a moment, before she looked around the room.

"There are some changes I'd like to make" she said. "But I'd rather show them to you before I do it okay. We're a team now right? A team should make decisions together and besides this is as much your work place as it is mine. I wouldn't feel right choosing for you. I mean what if I chose your least favourite colour, it would put you in a foul mood all the time" she said firmly. "Have you given us offices or can we pick our own?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I picked that one" Steve said, waving his hand to the office which had been partially furnished. "I haven't allocated spaces but I would prefer if you took that one" he said pointing his finger towards the office right next to Steve's, the office which shared the same amazing view as his did. "Since you're going to be second in command it makes sense if you are near me."

"So I'm your second in command then?" Danni said with a raised eyebrow. "As much as I like the sound of that, it doesn't exactly hold all that much weight when there are only two of us in the task force. Is it your way of trying to make me feel important because I've got to be honest, it's actually working" she said with a smile surprised when he grinned back at her. For a moment she stared, noticing how the smile changed his face making his appear younger before she forced herself to look away so it didn't look like she was gawping at him.

"There's two at us at the moment Danni but it won't remain that way for long" Steve corrected her as he turned and headed into his office. She watched as he bent down and picked up a cardboard box which he brought out. "The Governor has told me to hire two or more people to work on our cases. She wants there to be at least four of us on the team at any one time."

"Well that makes sense" she said thoughtfully. "It would be handy if you could hire a computer expert of some kind because for all my skills mastering technology isn't one of them. I can just about keep up on the basics which Grace needs me to know and that's about it" she remarked with a sigh as she shook her head. "Do you have anyone in mind?" she queried, she headed over to the table which Steve was standing by, unpacking the box which had apparently been filled with police files, she dumped her bag and glanced at them.

"I know of one person I want to hire if he agrees to it" he replied absently. "But I haven't any idea on the second one" he glanced up at her. "I'm sure we'll find someone Danni."

"Sooner rather than later would be better so we can be at full strength" Danni suggested.

"Of course" Steve answered. "This is everything we have on my Dad's murder both my files and notes and the ones which I took from you, including the one you made up on Fred Doran." Danni nodded. She reached across and picked up a thin file, the name on it indicating that it was Steve's file on Victor Hesse. "Not everything is in there" he stated. "I had to take most of it out because it's classified." Danni nodded her head.

"Understood" she remarked distractedly. She opened it up, resting it on the table and picked up on of the surveillance photos. The man in the photo was tall and slim, probably in his forties. His hair was dark and wavy and she could see the pale blue colour of his eyes regardless of the distance. There was an expression on his face which sent a shiver down her spine. This was the kind of man who you didn't want coming after you. "I'm assuming the lack of a mug shot of any kind means that Victor Hesse has not been captured yet?"

"No both of them managed to evade capture from any authority and trust me it was not through lack of trying. These two were on every government watch list around."

"But you managed to capture Anton?" she said, Steve gave her a pointed look "Oh of course, don't tell me it's all classified?" she said shaking her head. "Still Steve, capturing someone who everyone else had failed to capture. You must have been extremely good at what you did." She looked at another picture which showed Hesse talking to another man outside a restaurant of some description. "Is he extremely dangerous?" She asked. She blinked when Steve moved around the table and grabbed her by both her arms looking into her eyes with an intense look that was almost frightening.

"He is extremely dangerous Danni. This man kills for no reason other than someone has annoyed him. If we find him then I want you to give me your word that you will leave him to me. I've been trained to take out people like him. I'm an expert on the way that Hesse thinks and the way that he fights. If he finds out that you're my partner in this then he will not hesitate to go after both you and your daughter to get at me. That is the kind of man he is."

"What if I find him first Steve? Would you rather I just let him get away?" She asked. His hands tightened on her.

"I'd rather you pull back and call me and then stay hidden. I mean it Danni. Do not attempt to engage him in any way. I will make this an order as your superior if I have to." He threatened. Danni raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know while I appreciate your concern, you have made me your partner which means that it's my job to have your back. I'm not going to stand back and let you face this alone, if you don't like it then transfer me back to HPD and find someone else to partner you." She said meeting his eyes. "I understand where you're coming from and because I know that it's sensible to let you take him out because you're trained for it I'll stay in the background unless it looks like he's about to kill you and then I'll have to act. You can argue with me until you're blue in the face Commander but you'll just be wasting precious time. I'm not going to sit back and let you die because you're being stubborn or protective or territorial or whatever it is you're being right now so can we just move on."

"You don't know what he's like Danni, what he does to people who fall into his hands. Death is the kindest thing he does for them."

"Then I'll just have to make sure I don't fall into his hands before we throw his ass into jail won't I and you Steve just have to make sure that you kick his ass and make him suffer for everyone he's hurt in the past." Steve stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly as they scanned her features.

"Nothing I say is going to change your mind is it?" he asked.

"Nope afraid not. See I'd rather you be alive and bitching then your death being on my conscience. I'm not going to lose another partner." She said, stepping out of his grip. Breathing out she gathered the pictures together, placing them back into the file. She heard Steve sigh to the side of her before he moved back around the table so he was opposite her. She could still feel the imprint of his hands on her arms. "Have you found out who Hesse's accomplice is yet? The person who you said was with Hesse at the time of your father's death."

"Nothing yet" Steve said after a moment's pause. "When I was at the house earlier I managed to get a partial palm print from the surface of the desk where the space had been cleared for the laptop. I've sent a picture of it to a friend of mine in the Navy who works in intelligence over there. She's running it through the military database, she'll contact me later when she gets a hit from it."

"That's good. Do you want me to send the same picture to the crime lab here so they can run it through CODIS?" Danni asked, torn between being impressed by him and wondering who the woman was who was running the print for Steve. Danni was no expert when it came to the armed forces but she was pretty sure that they didn't have jurisdiction when it came to cases on civilians, it was normally only when the victim was a member of one of them that they could get involved. Whoever was doing this for Steve could end up in serious trouble if she was caught. She shook her head, no doubt there were several women out there who would happily get in trouble for the man standing opposite her.

"We can do that but I severely doubt that it will turn up any hits. The Hesse brothers are very suspicious, they only use people who they have either worked with several times before or people who they actually trust. As far as I can tell the only people the brothers' trust are the people who grew up with them back in Ireland."

"They are Irish?" Danni said in surprise. "The pair of them are certainly a long way away from home aren't they?" she reached up and pulled at her bottom lip. "So what you're saying is that random computer guru who we know nothing about is probably foreign, from a country far, far away and has probably never set foot on Hawaiian soil before so you think that we won't get a hit from the print?"

"Not at first" Steve answered. "Eventually you will, the people who work with the Hesse brothers normally have wrap sheets a mile long. You won't get a hit off the local stuff but you certainly will get a hit from one of the big ones, like Interpol or the FBI. The problem is that by the time your men find that link and go through the necessary channels and receive a response from them it will be too late. Both Hesse and his accomplice will be long gone. I sent this to Cath about two hours ago. She thinks she'll have a response from the system within the hour. The helpful thing about having access to the military database is the fact that it covers the whole world, not just America. If this guy has a record anywhere then we will know about it."

"Well that is handy isn't it" Danni said, "I could have done with that sort of help on a few cases which I've had recently." She sighed, reaching up and rubbing the back of the neck, her eyes falling to Victor Hesse's file. "Right so that's going to be a lead at least, when your friend in the navy gets back to you with a name then can you give it to me? Once I'll have it, I'll look up how he looks and then get the airport to send me its footage for the past two weeks, see if I can spot the guy coming into Hawaii."

"Why?" Steve asked. "That's going to take a hell of a long time for you to get through not to mention that it's probably going to be useless. If Hesse came in via the trafficking route then it's likely that his accomplice came into Hawaii exactly the same way."

"You're probably right" she said, "It is going to take me a while to get through it so I'll probably be taking it home to look at once Gracie is in bed. I mean logically speaking Hesse probably did bring his accomplice in that way but I think it depends on the person he used."

"What are you thinking?" Steve asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, we're both agreed that Hesse would have come through via the trafficking route because there's no way he could have come in any other way, not with every major agency from around the world and the military hunting him down but just because Hesse can't, it doesn't necessarily mean that his accomplice will have the same problem. If I was Victor Hesse then I would want to use someone who could move around the island without being noticed by anyone. I would need someone who could go and scope my target for me, someone who could follow him when I couldn't. I wouldn't want him to arouse suspicion so I would make him fly in. If he came in that way and we find him then we could perhaps track his movements around the island and see whether he visits anywhere more than once. That would most likely be where Hesse is currently holed up."

"Hesse would have thought of that already. He would constantly be on the move, never staying in one place for longer than a day. He doesn't make mistakes like that Danni, if he did then we would have caught him and his brother a long time ago."

"Yeah Hesse doesn't make that type of mistake" she agreed. "But the same can't be said about his accomplice. All it takes is one mistake, just one mistake that Hesse doesn't know the second guy has made. Even the best can't factor in every possible scenario especially when someone else is involved."

"Okay" Steve stated. "I'll stay on Hesse, when Cath sends me through the name I'll forward it to you. I want you to find out everything about him; his name, his history, his moves across Hawaii. Anything which you can find to bury him."

"Now that I can do" Danni said. "Okay best thing to do now is to go through what the pair of us know and see whether everything lines up correctly."

"Okay" Steve agreed. Danni reached up hooking a stray curl behind her ear before she began speaking.

"Hesse arrived in Hawaii via a boat of some description using a well-established trafficking route which no one knew about until today when we uncovered it."

"We can place his arrival probably about a week before he murdered my Dad" Steve commented.

"Why a week?" Danni asked curiously, looking across the table at Steve who looked up at her question.

"We captured Anton Hesse a week before my father died" he answered.

"Right so Anton is captured by your unit and you keep him somewhere, hidden away. Victor hears about it and he gets extremely pissed off that you've taken his brother and decides to get his brother back the only way he knows how to. There's one thing I don't get though" she said with a frown.

"What's that?" Steve asked. Danni looked up and met his gaze.

"Why you Steve? What was it about you which made them focus their attention on you, why did they come after your father? You couldn't have been the only person who was involved in their capture or who was hunting them down. It doesn't make sense" she said, reaching across and picking up a second thin file. She opened it and looked at the mug shot of Anton Hesse. She instantly picked up on the similarities between the brothers, same dark hair, and the same basic facial features. The eyes were a different shade of blue though, Anton's were greener in the bright artificial light used in the photo.

"I was the head investigator on them, the only one who could hunt them down and they knew it" Steve answered, Danni glanced up at him with a slight frown as she noticed the dark tone which came to his voice. She let it slide for the moment, storing it in her head to bring up in another occasion.

"Okay well that makes sense, if they knew who you were and the fact that you were responsible for them constantly being on the run then it only obvious that they would find out everything about you in case a situation like this arose. It would be easy to do once they had found out your name. It says here that Anton was a computer genius? He went to a top listed university and was graduated with a first at the top of his class?"

"Yeah Anton was a world class hacker, one of the best I've ever come across and I was in naval intelligence for five years. He would have been the one who broke through the firewalls the military has protecting their systems to gain my personal information. They would have known about my father and my sister, all their details and where they were would be, would be theirs for the taking.

"Your sister Mary right?" Danni asked, continuing when Steve nodded. "Stupid question but I'm assuming you've been in contact with her to make sure she's okay and everything?

"It was the first thing I did. She's safe in LA"

"LA is good" Danni said, she glanced up at his blank face before she looked away, quickly dropping the subject, clearly his sister was a sensitive topic for him for some reason.

"So Victor gets into Hawaii and the first thing he does like you said is get a gun from Doran" Steve said as though the conversation about his sister had never occurred. She watched him pick up the file she had made on Fred Doran and glance through it. "Looking at his record it wouldn't be a leap to assume that they had done business together before. Victor and Anton like having contacts in every country for this sort of thing."

"We can't assume that it was Victor himself who went to get the gun, it's more likely he sent his accomplice to Doran and told Doran to expect him. The man isn't stupid, he knew that if we got the gun then there was a chance that we could link it back to him, this way we can't. The lab didn't find any fingerprints on the weapon and no one actually saw him pull the trigger. You were the only witness Steve and you were somewhere else listening in on the phone. They are going to say it's not enough. Our only bet is to find the second man and make him turn on Hesse though from what you're saying about how dangerous Hesse is I can't see it happening. We'd have more luck getting Hesse to confess then getting someone to turn him in."

"It was Hesse who killed my father Danni" Steve growled at her, his eyes looking dark as they glared at her. Danni dropped the file to the table, lifting her hands up in a peaceful gesture.

"Hey, I'm on your side remember" she said keeping her tone soft. "I know he killed your father, I've seen the evidence, I've worked the case, every instinct in me tells me that Hesse is the killer. I'm just saying that if this goes to trial then that is the sort of argument that the defence attorney will be using to try and place doubts into the mind of the jury. We just need to be able to combat it with evidence." She watched Steve reach up and run his hand through his hair, his face softening becoming calm and focused instead.

"We can't use the gun" Steve said. "But there's always trace elements isn't there. If we find the clothes he was wearing on the day he shot my father then he could be placed there from the gunshot residue, if it's in a certain pattern then it would prove he was the one to pull the trigger since my word apparently isn't good enough."

"Hey your word is good enough for me Steve but I'm not the one who needs convincing, these people don't know you so we have to make this case a dead cert."

"You don't know me either" Steve pointed out. Danni shrugged.

"I know your type" she said with a smile. "You're not the first military man who has come across my path" she said. "We know that Hesse murdered your father and that he was on the phone to you at the time" she said going back to establishing their time line. "No one has heard or seen him since which indicates that he went into hiding. He can't leave because not only is everyone looking for him but also you've turned up, suddenly everything has changed. He's got to get off the island now because he's got to know that you're going to find him, just like you found Anton."

"No one knows him better than me now that his brother is dead" Steve agreed, "There's nowhere on this island he can hide."

"He would also have heard about Doran's arrest by now, he can't trust that Doran won't talk especially if he knows that the person who is going to be interrogating Doran will be you." Danni added. Steve nodded, leaning forward and resting his weight on the table.

"He'll be looking to get off the island either tomorrow or the day after, he'll go the way he came, via the trafficking route so he will likely hit China within two days and then move on from there to another place where the military can't reach him. If he gets there then we'll lose him."

"Well in that case we better get going on making Doran squeal like the pig he is. Do we have a computer set up here yet?" she asked looking away from Steve so she could scan the room.

"There's one which has been set up on my office" Steve replied, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "They'll be installing the other ones later on." Danni nodded pushing away from the table and heading to the office.

"Log on to it please." she said, she stopped at the door, letting Steve brush past her. He shot her a look before he took his seat and booted up his computer.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Steve asked curiously. "I've looked at the file you made Danni and it has everything we need to question him" he said. "It's so good in fact that I'm going to put you in charge of making up all of the case files for anything which comes up."

"Lucky me" Danni responded with a roll of her eyes. "I think it's safe to say that we'll be discussing exactly what my job within the task force will actually be after this case has finished." She warned him, walking over to his side of the table and leaning down so she could see the screen. "I'm not after information on Fred" she said. "I want to know about his family, anything which we could use against him."

"You want to do it my way now?" Steve said with a tinge of satisfaction.

"I want to know who the leader of this trafficking ring is. I think your method is going to work better than mine, though don't think that this will be a regular occurrence. I thought we could use his family against him." She said, Steve nodded.

"That will work" he stated, glancing at her. "You said earlier when we were back at the crime scene that you thought there was a chance that Doran was abused as a child?" he asked curiously. Danni nodded.

"Yeah it would explain his hatred of women if he was, the most likely two reason for it would be either he was abused his mother or a female relative or he blames his mother for not making the abuse stop."

"I can work with that" Steve said with a nod. "You just need to follow my lead down there regardless of what is said, okay?" Danni hesitated for a moment before she nodded

"I can do that" she said. Steve shot her a look which she couldn't read before he turned away from her to look at the screen, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he typed in Doran's details.

"You're good at computers I see" she said.

"It's just one of my many talents" he replied, a hint of smugness coming to his voice. "Here we are" he said, pointing his finger to the screen. "Doran has a brother and a sister, his brother is a lawyer, his sister is a nurse and neither of them as far as I can see have so much as a speeding ticket between them. They are older than him as well."

"Well there's no need to guess who the black sheep of the Doran family is. Is he a lot younger than them?" she asked. Steve nodded.

"There's at least eighteen years between Doran and his sister" Steve answered.

"That makes sense, Fred was a late life mistake and he probably knew it as well." Danni placed her hand on Steve's shoulder as she leaned closer to the screen.

"His mother was a secondary school teacher and his father was a postal worker." Steve continued, pulling her back so he could see the screen again.

"Well postal workers tend or have long shift patterns, they often work twelve hour shifts at a time so the Dad wouldn't be around much, raising Fred would have fallen to his mother since we can assume that his brother and sister would have moved out by then."

"This I can work with" Steve said

"Good, well let's get down there and speak to him then" Danni said. She took her hand off his shoulder and straightened moving away from the desk and towards the exit aware of Steve walking behind her.

It was time to get some answers.

* * *

Author note

H**ope you enjoyed it!**


	10. Interrogation

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**Sorry for the day's delay in getting this chapter uploaded, I wrote the initial version yesterday morning but then before I could do anything else on it, I was hit by a tidal wave of things which needed doing in the real world so I didn't get a chance to edit and detail the chapter until now.**

**It's so strange looking back at the pilot and seeing how Steve used to be and how he is now. He's so focused in the pilot that's its almost scary. Like he'd do anything to get his answers. I've tried to make him the same way here and it's worked for the majority of things, the way he treats the policemen in this chapter for example but it just doesn't seem to work when it comes to Danni. She seems to bring out a softer side to him, the same way that male Danny did, it's fascinating writing the abrupt changes as he goes from talking to Danni to someone else. **

**Doran is a complete bastard towards Danni in this chapter but it just seemed to be the kind of guy he was. I've gone down the route that he hates all women due to his childhood, any woman, especially a woman is a position of authority such as Danni is, will end up getting abuse. So you've been warned.**

**Anyway please enjoy **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Interrogations are never easy…**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Ten

Interrogation

* * *

"So are you going to fill me in on what exactly you're going to say or do to him down there? I mean it's not that I don't trust you to break him but it might be a good idea if I know in advance so that if you throw me a curve ball I can react in the correct way so we don't mess up." Danni stated, looking over her shoulder at Steve. She came to a stop at the doorway waiting for Steve to pick up the Doran file from the table and follow her out into the corridor.

"I'll be working the family angle Danni" he commented, placing his hand on her lower back and pushing her forward towards the lift.

"Okay care to explain to me why I get a really uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach when you say something using that tone of voice. I'm not liking that tone, let's make a deal that you never use that tone again? Can we do that?" she asked him.

"Considering I don't know what tone you're referring to, I'm going to have to say no" he replied. "You are the one after all who agreed to follow my way of doing it so that's exactly what I need you to do Danni, just follow my lead down there."

"Okay just for the record saying that while still using the same tone of voice only actually increases my feeling of unease because I know you can't see it, but you get this glint in your eyes that tells me that I'm not going to be thrilled with what I'm about to see. Don't worry though I told you I would follow your lead and that's what I'll do. Just try not to kill our only current lead okay?" She said as they came to a stop by the lift and pressed the call button.

"I'm not going to kill Doran" Steve said on a sigh. "It might be hard for you to have faith in me but at least have some faith in my abilities. For the record, I'm actually extremely good at interrogating suspects. So good in fact that I don't need to resort to violence against the suspect during an interrogation to get my answers from them. I normally find that I don't need to. All I need to know is a suspect's weakness, once I have that I find that it's easy to make them talk and you've already told me what Doran's weakness is."

"His mother" she said.

"His mother" Steve repeated with a nod. "She'll be the key to breaking him and getting the answers we need from him, all without harming so much of a hair on his head."

"Let's hope you're right" Danni said, following Steve into the lift, she leaned against the back of it, watching as Steve pressed the button for the basement. "It be interesting seeing you at work, I've always wondered whether the military way of doing it is vastly different from the police way of doing it or whether they are exactly the same."

"Different" Steve answered bluntly. "Is that all you're wondering about?" he asked "Whether the techniques are different?" Danni glared at the back of his head, letting the comment slide. Steve was definitely frustrating that was for sure.

"He should be ready to talk" Danni stated. "I spoke to Joe Keliikoa when we were back at the trailer park. He's placed him in the darkest, coldest room which is available down here, Doran has been in that room for an hour give or take which means that he is going to be suffering. I find that if you introduce a little bit air-con to a Hawaiian native then they become real eager to answer questions so they can get away from the cold and back into the heat. People always talk if you take them away from their natural habitats."

"Are you saying that we Hawaiians are a hot blooded race because I was under the impression that most women liked hot blooded males? Are you the rare exception to that rule Danni?"

"Again with the personal questions, are you going to be one of those partners who is going to need to know everything that I do or think? Because this might surprise you but I'm a fairly private person, I don't tend to spill my likes and dislikes to any random person. Besides how is that relevant to this case in any fashion?" she asked, reaching forward and poking him in the back hard. "Because somehow I doubt it is and you're just being nosy." She moved past him when the lift doors slid open and headed down the doorway. She heard Steve mutter something under his breath but she didn't quite catch it. Her eyes focused on the two uniformed police officers who were stationed outside one of the doors speaking quietly to each other.

"Hey Joe" she called out when she was in ear range of him. "Thanks for taking care of this guy for us, I know if couldn't have been easy considering the man never shut up for longer than a few seconds. Did you encounter any problems transporting him here?" she asked curiously, watching as Joe stood up straight at the sound of her voice, turning to face her and flashing her a warm smile which took her by surprise. Any smile which she had received since coming to Hawaii tended to take her by surprise.

"He did nothing which me and Ahe couldn't handle Detective Williams" Joe answered her, "We did exactly what you asked us to do for you on the phone, right down to the letter. Ahe turned the lights right down, I dealt with the temperature and there's definitely no natural light in there. It's the kind of room that anyone would want to be out of pretty damn quickly. Could be that your boy in there might be ready to talk to you already and if he isn't a few more hours in there will definitely loosen his tongue."

"It's damn cold in there Detective" Joe's partner Ahe commented with a shiver causing Danni to smile.

"Good" she stated simply.

"Has he been saying anything which we could use against him?" Steve asked, coming up on her right hand side, his attention fixed on Joe with the same impassive look Danni had noticed him using with everyone.

"If he had Commander then we would have already told Detective Williams about it. He was simply making the usual noise that all these scumbags do. You know the type, screaming that he's innocent and how we've got the wrong man before he descended into shouting abuse and death threats like they were going out of fashion or something." Joe turned his eyes to Danni, a look of concern coming to his face. "He said a lot about you as well Detective, it looks like you made quite the impression on him."

"Well aren't I just the lucky one" She commented with a roll of her eyes. "I get the feeling that attention from someone like Doran is something which I could happily live without."

"Considering he never shuts up, he's certainly being quiet in there" Steve commented, looking away from Joe's face to stare at the metal doorway with a frown.

"He fell silent about fifteen minutes ago. We've constantly check on him via the hatch to make sure that he hasn't done anything to himself and that he is still alive, we-"

"I assume he was?" Steve interrupted. Joe tilted his head to the side fixing Steve with a cold look before he turned away from him and focused his attention to Danni, giving her the answer to Steve's question. The older man making it extremely clear what he thought about Steve's interruption. Danni kept her face straight with difficulty as she listened.

"He was fine Detective, he was pacing the room, muttering to himself and clutching at his head. He's either trying to get his story straight in his mind before you two start questioning him or he's hoping that if he starts acting a bit whacko that we'll begin to think he's insane. Personally I think it's the first one. The man's too jumpy for anything else."

"That sounds about right" Danni agreed, "Thanks for bringing him here and staying with him. I don't trust Doran as far as I can throw him. We have it from here though so if you want to go back to the station and have a break then feel free to. You've definitely earned it after having to put up with him for the past hour or so." Joe met her gaze for a moment before he turned to look at Ahe. Danni watched as some unspoken communication occurred before Joe turned back to her.

"Tempting as that sounds I think it would be better if we stayed right where we are until you and the Commander have finished your questioning Detective. We've orders from our Captain who has orders from your old Captain to stay put. If we left now then we could get in trouble, I don't need to remind you what the Captains get like if they have been disobeyed."

Danni frowned, looking towards Steve, she winced when she noticed the dark look on her partner's face.

"This case belongs to the Governor's taskforce not the Honolulu police department." Steve stated coldly.

"Stay if you have to" Danni interrupted, reaching out and placing her hand on Steve's arm and squeezing it, shooting him a warning look before she turned back to the two officers. "The last thing either me or the Commander want is for you to get in trouble on our account. There's no need for you to stand outside though, so at least go and grab a seat in the officers room down the hall and have a drink." She watched as they shared a look again and nodded at her.

"We can do that" Joe said "Come on Ahe, I could do with a coffee." Danni flashed them a smile as they moved past her waiting until they had moved round the corner before she let go of Steve, tilting her head back so she could look in his face.

"I think that I'm going to have to pay a visit to the Captains again" Steve said, his eyes flashing in the bright light. Danni nodded.

"If a case is ours then we can't have either of them interfering right" she agreed. "There's no point taking it out on the officers though, not only is it not their fault but they are going to be the backup we call. I'd rather they like us then dislike us because I don't want to be shot."

"I was nice to them" Steve replied mildly causing Danni's mouth to fall open.

"That was you being nice?" she asked, shaking her head when he nodded, a half-smile curving his mouth. "In that case if that was you being nice then I've clearly got a lot to teach you Steve" she said with a sigh. "Let's get this over and done with shall we?" she commented, nodding her head towards the door. Steve nodded, placing his hands on the lock and pulling it back.

"Ladies first" he said, stepping back so she could walk past him into the interrogation room.

The first thing which struck her was the coldness, it swept over her making goose bumps rise up on her bare arms, making her suddenly wish that she had thought to put her cardigan back on before she left their floor. A slight smile came to her face when the room brightened slightly, allowing her to see clearly, Steve must have found the dimmer switch outside.

Danni's gaze focused on Doran just as he turned towards her, she watched as his eyes narrowed at her, his nostrils flaring as his face fell into a snarl of hatred.

"Hello Fred, have you missed me?" She asked, smiling widely at him knowing how much the simple action would infuriate him. She wanted him to lose his cool and to become enraged so that he would get sloppy and be more likely to give up information without even realising it.

"You" he hissed taking a step towards her, his hands curling into fists at his side. Danni tensed up, ready to move if the need arose but Doran stopped suddenly, his gaze flickering away from her to stare behind her. Danni tilted her head slightly to the side as Steve walked into the room, automatically slotting his body between her and Doran so that Doran would have to go through Steve if he wanted a piece of Danni.

"Sit down" Steve demanded coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Or I'll make you sit down and trust me when I say it will be painful for you."

"I'd seriously do what he tells you" Danni remarked, moving out from behind Steve. There was no way she was going to be treated as though she was something precious to protect. Danni could kick ass with the best of them. She continued speaking. "As I told you before my partner is a navy SEAL, I don't know what they learn at SEAL school but I'm assuming it's not how to sing and dance, I'm thinking its more on how to inflict pain and kill people. He doesn't like you so I'm thinking he would make it especially painful, so do us all a favour and just sit on the chair." Danni lowered her eyes to her nails, looking as though she was examine them before she looked back up with a raised eyebrow. "Still standing?" she asked in surprise. "Well rather you then me" she looked towards Steve, who looked towards her, a gleam of amusement in his eyes before he took a step towards Doran.

Doran's eyes flickered from Danni's face to Steve's. Whatever he saw in Steve's eyes had him moving, his ass in the chair which Joe or Ahe had set in the middle of the room, before Danni could even blink. She smiled.

"See that wasn't so difficult to do now was it" she couldn't resist saying, her smile widening when Steve's mouth curled into the same half smile she had seen earlier before his face became impassive again.

"Shut the hell up bitch, you say one more word and I'm gonna make you shut up."

"You're going to make me shut up? What are you going to hit me is that it? You think that if you hit me that I'm just going to crumple and do what you say?" Danni asked, her eyes narrowing as rage swept through her. How many women had he made shut up with his fists, women who didn't have Danni's training and wouldn't have been able to fight back. "If you think you can then I'd like to see you try, perhaps it would do you good to go up against someone who can actually fight back against you" she took a deep breath and calmed herself, ignoring Steve's gaze as she carried on speaking, her voice softening, becoming calm. "Where did you learn that technique from? Your mother? Did she hit you when you were younger Fred to make you be quiet? I assume it was your mother who hurt you or was it someone else in the family, someone who should have been looking after you rather than hurting you?" she held up her hands when she met Steve's gaze, the look in his eyes telling her to back off. "Okay don't mind me, I'll just sit here in the corner and watch" she remarked, turning and headed to the back of the room, she leaned against the side of the door.

"You know nothing about my mother bitch" Doran yelled at her, a wild look coming to his eyes which made her positive she had hit the nail on the head with her comment. For a moment she found herself pitying him before the feeling dispersed. She couldn't pity a man who had done what Fred Doran had done regardless of what he might have gone through as a child.

"Look at me" Steve said, a tone to his voice which made Doran turn to him automatically. "I'm going to give you one chance to take the easy route out before we start this. Tell me where Victor Hesse is. If you do then I'll speak to the DA office and tell them that you cooperated with us. You'd be more likely to get a deal which means that one day you'd be free. Don't tell me and I will make sure you rot in a cell, stuck in solitude with a window so small that you'll never be able to see out of it. You'll never see daylight except for one hour a day again. All you will have is yourself, no visits, no post. It will be like you never existed in the first place."

Danni shivered at Steve's tone, impressed despite herself. She could definitely see why Steve was good at interrogations.

The room fell silent for a moment, Danni watched Doran's eyes move back and forth rapidly as he clearly thought about his options.

"Fuck you" Doran said finally, looking up and spitting in Steve's general direction. "You think that because you're a SEAL I'm scared of you. I ain't and I ain't telling you shit. You've got nothing on me that will stick. I'll be out within two years and when I am" he said, his eyes moving to Danni. "Then the first thing I'm gonna do is visit your little girlfriend over there. Then I'll show her how a real man uses his woman. I normally like hearing my women scream but on this occasion I think I'd gag her and let her pretty little eyes do the talking for her."

Danni moved from the wall, taking a step forward towards Doran intent on smacking the smirk off his face. She stopped when Steve looked back at her, a warning look to his face.

"We've got more than enough to bury you so threaten all you want." Steve remarked. "Let me tell you something about the man you're protecting. You're extendable to him, just waste which he will be taking out once he gets the chance. If you make it to your trial, which is a big if, then you certainly won't last longer than a week in prison. Putting you in solitary will extend your life because no one will be able to get you. However if you threaten my partner again I'll have them put you with everyone else. I'll also have them announce how much you like little girls and boys, criminal are strange I find. They have this code of honour, a bit like people in the armed forces do. One of those code is about small children and abusing them. They don't like it and when they find out someone is within their ranks who has done that to children, well I find that they don't last long. So last chance, where is Victor Hesse?"

"I don't know who the hell Victor Hesse is" Doran yelled back.

"See you say you don't know him and yet strangely enough I don't believe you. What about you Detective, do you believe him?" Steve asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"No" she said simply. "Perhaps it's his shifty looking eyes which makes me think that everything which comes out of his mouth is complete and utter bullshit." Doran looked back at her.

"One day I'm going to be alone with you bitch, one day your boyfriend here isn't going to be around to protect you. It's just going to be you and me and I promise that by the time I'm through with you, you'll wish you had never been born."

"I'll let you in to a little secret Fred, I don't need protection, and I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. I can promise you that if that happens, then you'll be the one wishing you had never been born" Danni remarked coolly, lifting her eyebrow at the seated man, her gaze moved to Steve as Steve straightened, his muscles tensing in a way which placed Danni on guard.

"Detective" Steve commented, his voice void of any emotion. "Could you go to the other interrogation room and make sure that Mrs Doran is comfortable? Maybe you could get her a coffee and something to eat" he asked "The officers placed her in the room down the hallway."

"What?" Doran said, making a move to get up, sinking back down when Steve's eyes flickered towards him before they focused back on Danni. "You got my mother here? What the fuck has my mother got to do with any of this? You better let her go or I'll gut you."

"Move again and I'll be making sure you don't move for a while" Steve said focusing his full attention on Doran. "I'd forgotten that you wouldn't know, we've brought your mother in for questioning. We obtained records for your phone and it seems that you're quite the mummy boy, I find that mummy boys tend to tell them everything." He turned back to Danni. "Detective, off you go."

"Sure" she said, heading to the doorway.

"Detective, make it with a small amount of cream and no sugar. Mrs Doran is diabetic after all, we wouldn't want anything to happen to her" Steve commented lightly. Danni nodded and exited the room, closing it behind her. She leaned against it for a moment, focusing on her breathing, wiping her sweaty palms against the side of her dress before she moved, glancing around her. The hallway was empty meaning that Joe and Ahe were still on break in the officer room.

A smile came to her mouth as she moved down the hallway towards the lift. She had to hand it to Steve, that ploy about having Doran's mother in custody was a stroke of genius. He clearly knew what he was doing, she felt bad that she had doubted him.

Danni headed up in the lift and exited the building, shading her eyes from the bright sunlight as she looked around her for the nearest coffee shop. There was one on the corner so she headed to it, buying two cups of coffee and a skinny muffin for herself, somehow she doubted that they would be stopping for lunch and she was starving. She paid and left the coffee shop, looking around her, her eyes landed on a building which caused her to sigh as she realised with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, that the building she was looking at was the one which Duncan worked in.

Shaking her head she headed back to the building and towards the lift, humming as it made its way down into the basement. The door slid open, revealing Steve.

"Hey" she said, looking him up and down before she offered him the coffee. "This is for you, I assumed the coffee order you gave was the way you took your coffee." she said with a smile, he entered the lift and took it from her with a half-smile taking a sip as he hit both the buttons for the ground floor and the second floor.

"Go and get your bag Danni" he said "There's someone we've got to see" Danni blinked.

"Are you planning on giving me anymore information then that?" she asked him.

"Nope" Steve answered, stepping out on the ground floor. "I'll meet you by the car" Danni opened her mouth to say something, stopping when the door slid shut leaving her alone wondering whether it would be bad if she throttled her partner on the first day.

She shook her head, stepping onto the second floor and heading to their area.

Just who exactly were they going to see?

* * *

Author Note

**Thanks for reading **


	11. Danni Williams meet Chin Ho Kelly

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for quite the while, having female Danni interact with another member of the team to see whether the relationship between them would be different or near enough the same. It's still early days but I can't help but think that it will be different. Changing someone sex clearly seems to change everything.**

**The little scenes between Steve and Danni in this chapter for example, I never set out to write them, they merely wrote themselves, little things I didn't expect to happen, happened and I simply sat back and let it **

**I'm seriously loving this story! Hopefully you're enjoying reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it!**

**Anyway please enjoy **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Danni Williams meet Chin Ho Kelly…**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

Danni Williams meet Chin Ho Kelly

* * *

"How long exactly does it take to get a bag Danni? I was beginning to think that you had managed to get lost between the second and ground floor somehow." Danni glanced up at the sound of Steve's voice, her eyes widening slightly as she noticed the impatient tone to his voice.

"Funny guy" she called back, waving a dismissive hand in his direction as she approached him. "Of course I didn't get lost, I went and got my bag, which for the record you told me to go and get, and then I went to the little ladies room. I'm assuming that you're not that big a dictator that you won't allow your partner a toilet break." She demanded with a raised eyebrow.

"I suppose that's all right" he said with a half-smile, his eyes gleaming with amusement as he slapped his hand down onto the roof of her car. "Get it open will you or better yet hand me over the keys so I can drive us there so we can make up the minutes we've just lost."

"Yeah, you're delusional if you think you're going to drive after that." She said, pointing at his hand which was still resting on the roof. "You just slapped my car, you're lucky I don't slap you in return. I told you that she was my second baby so treat her with some respect, if you do then maybe just maybe I'll let you drive her one day, until then you've got no chance." She glanced up at him through narrowed eyes, taking in his amused grin before she breathed out and pushed him away from the driver's side. "Either go to the passenger side or walk" she said firmly as she unlocked the car and climbed in, closing the door behind her and starting the car up.

She glanced towards Steve as he got into the passenger seat, a smile coming to her face as she noticed the look on his face.

"I'm sorry, are you actually pouting because I won't let you drive?" she demanded. "Because that would actually be kind of cute, of course it would also be kind of pathetic but what can you do?" Steve turned to look at her.

"I'm not pouting" he stated, crossing his arms over his chest,

"Well you aren't now" she agreed. "Now you simple look like you need to go for a number two and that's not an attractive look on anyone, not even you" she remarked, hitting the car into reverse and backing out of their parking space. "Where exactly are we heading then?" she queried.

"Turn right as we exit, we're heading to Pearl Harbour, I assume you know how to get there?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've not been there but I can still follow road signs like everybody else" she commented, hitting the indicator and pulling out to the right like he asked. "Did you get anything out of Doran once I left?"

"He admitted he knew who Hesse was and that they had worked together in the past but he clammed up after that, he wouldn't tell me anything, the only thing I got out of him was that he was more afraid of Hesse then of me."

"And then?" she asked, sparing him a quick glance before she looked back to the road.

"And then he lawyered up, no doubt his big brother is already on his way to an airport to pull his baby brother out of trouble, probably not for the first time."

"Is his brother a good lawyer?" she questioned, glancing at a road sign as they passed it.

"Extremely good according to his record" Steve responded with a shrug. Danni nodded biting down on her lower lip before she dug out her mobile and pressed down on the number four button bringing the handset to her ear. She was aware of Steve casting her a questioning look but she ignored it as she moved the car into the left lane.

"Moore" came the brisk answer after three rings.

"Boston it's Jersey" she said.

"Speaking to me twice in one day Jersey? People are going to start talking if you keep this up." He said sounding amused.

"You wish" she said, a smile coming to her face in response to the one she was sure was on his face.

"What can I do for you Jersey?" Ryan asked, his voice turning business like.

"Have you found anything else at the Doran house?" she asked, "He's just lawyered up and apparently his lawyer is a pretty good one. I just want to make sure that we have more on him."

"We've got weapons galore here, Courtney even found a box hidden behind a panel in the wall, we're thinking that they might be the ones which are linked to ongoing cases, why else hide them right? We've found cocaine, heroin, rupees, you name it and we've found it here. The man appears to have thought himself a pharmacist or something, only none of the drugs would have to do any good for anyone. We've got knives, DVDs of things which made even Bradley feel sick."

"DVDs?" Danni repeated with a slight frown. "What was on the DVDs?"

"I'm not going to go into details Jersey" Ryan said abruptly. "Just know that it didn't end well for the women who were featured on the DVD"

"Snuff DVDS" she said, her voice rising in disbelief.

"Got it in one" he said "That's all we've got so far" he continued. "But I'd like to stress the so far part, the guy has more hidden panels then a paranoid millionaire, we need someone to go through the guns and check the permits" he said.

"I can do that" she offered. "Have someone take pictures of all the guns and any registration numbers you can find which haven't been scraped off and have them delivered to my new office. I work on the second floor in the Aliiolani Hale. I'll go through them on the database and see whether he has permits for them. I'd still like your lab to do a ballistics comparison on every one of them though, just because it has a permit it doesn't necessarily mean he hasn't used them in a crime. Doran's got a temper on him, he would be the kind of man who would grab the first thing handy and not even think about whether it was the right gun to use or not."

"Already on it Jersey. I'll drop the photos to you myself, are you still going to be in the office at five?" he asked enquiringly.

"Probably, Gracie is with her Dad until seven tonight so I'll probably work late until at least six."

"Okay, maybe we could grab a coffee or something?"

"Not tonight" she answered, her eyes flickering to Steve who was clearly listening to everything she said, it wouldn't surprise her if she could hear everything that Ryan was saying as well. "Meka and co are coming round tomorrow for dinner, if you're free around six thirty then pop in. Just let me know if you're coming so I can cook enough for us all."

"Okay, I'll let you know, I might have a date tomorrow. I've got to go, Luana's found something. Bye Jersey."

"Bye Boston" she said, closing the phone and looking at Steve. "They've found a lot so far, several weapons, several different types of drugs, Snuff videos. They've just found something else as well." Steve nodded.

"Doran is wrapped up then" he said with a satisfied nod, "Now we need to focus our attention on Hesse, his accomplice and the trafficking ring. I'd rather you go through the airport film then do the permit work, that sounds more like a job which CSU should be doing."

"Actually that part is done by the police normally" she corrected. "Ryan let us have the trailer for twenty minutes, this is the least I can do for him. Besides we don't know when your friend will be getting the results back. I've got to go through the footage, check the permits and write up a report on Doran's arrest which for the record you will need to sign off and send to your superior officer in this case the Governor" Steve breathed out noisily before he suddenly changed the subject.

"Did you say earlier that you haven't been to Pearl Harbour yet?" he demanded, causing Danni to blink as she thought back to their previous conversation.

"Yeah I think I did" she replied.

"How could you have not been there yet after living here for six months Danni?" he asked in disbelief. Danni shrugged.

"Easily" she said, wincing when she caught sight of his face. "Okay seriously enough with that face. The first two months of being here was spent getting us settled and turning our house into a home which Grace could feel comfortable in. That not only took up a hell of a lot of time but also a hell of a lot of money. Police officers don't get paid all that well Steve and you'd be surprise how little it seems to cover in Hawaii when you're raising a daughter alone. Duncan helps occasionally but his help always come with strings attached and it's something I could do without. By the time the house was finished we had made friends so most of our weekend was spent out with them, we just haven't gotten around to it yet but we will. We're going to do everything which every tourist is meant to do when we have the time to" she said finishing lamely, she cursed silently when she felt her face redden under his gaze. "We're here" she announced brightly, turning into the car park and into a space. "Let's never speak of this again" she said, looking at Steve once before she grabbed her bag and exited the car with a sigh of relief. "Who are we here to see?" she asked when Steve climbed out of the passenger side.

"A man called Chin Ho Kelly" Steve replied as he walked around the car, placing his hand on her back and propelling her forward.

"That name sounds familiar" she said with a slight frown which grew as he continued to push her. "And by the way, what is up with you and all the pushing? I've got two working legs, I can walk perfectly well by myself. You could just point where we want to go and I'd make it over there."

"This is just as easy" Steve responded, a half-smile coming to his face as though he found her reaction amusing.

"For you maybe" she huffed before she looked around her, taking in all the tourists and the boats. "Where does Chin Ho Kelly work?" she asked.

"Here" Steve said, gripping the back of her dress lightly and bringing them to a halt outside of a building. Danni tilted her head to the side.

"The guy you're so keen to see works in the gift shop?" she questioned. "What does he do here? Work the till?"

"Security" Steve corrected, moving them out of the way of a group of excited school children. Danni nodded.

"Of course he does" she said. "Anything else you want to tell me before we go in and speak to him?" she queried.

"Chin Ho Kelly was my father's old partner"

"I knew I knew his name" Danni exclaimed. "I just couldn't remember where from, it was in your Dad's records." She winced slightly at the expressionless look which settled over Steve's face at the mention of his father. "Let's go and speak to him then" she suggested.

"Lets" Steve responded finally letting go of her. Danni straightened her skirt before she entered the gift shop looking around her curiously.

"Do you see him?" she asked Steve.

"No" he answered with a frown.

"Well he could be out back on a lunch break" she suggested, "Normal people have lunch breaks you see" she couldn't help but point out. She smiled when Steve glared at her and turned from him, heading towards the counter where a girl had just finished serving an older couple. "Hiya, I'm sorry to interrupt you but is Chin Ho Kelly working today? It's important that I speak to him" The girl looked at her, her eyes flickering up and down Danni before she shook her head.

"He's here" she admitted. "But he's out back with a suspect, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for him, I can't allow you out back and I don't know how long Chin will be. You can leave a name and number and I'll pass it to him to call you?"

"We don't have time for this, this is official police business" Steve stated bluntly, flashing his badge at her. "He's out back you said?" he asked the startled girl who seemed incapable of doing anything but staring at Steve with her mouth open. Danni wasn't sure whether it was because Steve was a cop or whether it was because of how he looked, Danni was more inclined to go with the second option considering how many women in the shop had checked him out since he entered. Danni rolled her eyes, glancing away from him.

"We won't be long" Danni said, flashing her own badge at the girl, who looked towards it.

"You can go that way" she said, bringing herself out of her stupor long enough to point to the back of the shop.

"Thanks" Danni said,

"Come on Danni" Steve said, wrapping his hand around her arm and pulling her forward, for a moment Danni considered kicking him in the shins but decided against it, there were too many witnesses in the shop watching their progress. She yanked her arm out of his hold and followed him out of the security door and into the cool corridor.

"Could we have not done that without announcing to everyone in the store that we're cops looking for Chin Ho Kelly?" she demanded angrily, her eyes narrowing when she realised Steve wasn't listening to her. Steve tilted his head slightly and nodded.

"This way" he said pointing to the left, he strode past her clearly intent on reaching his destination as fast as possible. Danni growled under her breath, cursing his long legs as she hurried after him.

"Steve, you've just announced to everyone that the police are looking for this guy. He could get fired for it."

"Calm down and trust me Danni, I've got a plan" Steve said as he flung open the door at the end of the hallway. Danni moved to the other side of Steve and looked in, there were two people in the room as far as she could see. One was a young boy of about eight who looked terrified as he stared between them and the man who was looming over him. "Chin" Steve said ignoring the boy as though he wasn't there. "We need to talk" Chin blinked at them both.

"Steve?" he said in confusion. "What are you doing back here?"

"Finding you, is there somewhere we can go and talk?" he asked.

"Sure let me just finish off here and I'll be right with you" Chin said, waving his hand towards the boy who shrank back into his chair.

"I don't think there's anything left to finish off" Danni observed. "Whatever this kid has done, it's pretty clear that he won't be doing it again. I think you've put the fear of God into him." She looked at the boy and smiled. "What's your name?" she asked gently.

"Kyle" the boys responded, looking at her hopefully.

"And are you sorry for your crime Kyle?" she queried.

"Yes" came the instant reply. "I just want to go home, I'm sorry I took the snow globe, I just wanted to show it to my mum so we could get it for my sister" he said on a sob.

"Fine" Chin said. "Just be more careful okay, next time call your mum back in the see the snow globe rather than running out with it to show her"

"Yes Sir" the boy said, jumping to his feet and running from the room. Danni moved out of the way, watching him run down the corridor and out of the door which they had come through. She glanced back to see that Chin had moved in front of her, his hand stretched out in front of him as his eyes moved over her face in a thoughtful manner.

"Chin Ho Kelly" he announced "And you are?" Danni returned to the smile, grasping Chin's hand in her. She noticed that his hand was warm with calluses at the fingertips as though he was constantly holding something, probably a gun from his days on the police force.

"I'm Detective Danni Williams" she replied "Nice to meet you Chin."

"Oh the famous Danni Williams" Chin replied, squeezing her hand briefly before he let go, his gaze flickering to Steve.

"That would be me though I'm now suddenly scared by what exactly you've heard about me." Chin opened his mouth to respond but closed it when Steve spoke.

"You can have this conversation later" he stated firmly. "Chin is there somewhere we can talk?" he asked again, an impatient note coming to his voice. Chin nodded his head, looking between them, the warm smile disappearing into a serious expression.

"The canteen area is usually quiet at this time of day, we can talk there" he looked at them both again. "Follow me" Danni followed him, glancing quickly at Steve before she looked away. He was wearing the same impassive look from before, the look which she couldn't quite read yet.

Chin led them out of the gift ship and down the road a little bit before he entered another tented area which was filled with picnic tables. Chin chose one near the back of the room and sat on the bench. Danni hesitated for a moment before she took a space on the opposite side of Chin leaving enough room for Steve to sit down. She smiled at Chin and reached into her bag pulling out the muffin she brought earlier and opening it.

"Don't mind me" she commented when she realised they were both looking at her. "We haven't stopped for lunch yet and I'm hungry. You should eat as well Steve, you've probably not stopped for anything all day" She said with a frown. She ripped her muffin in two and pushed half of it to Steve. "Eat" she commanded. "Or you're walking back to the office" she met Steve's glare head on, smiling when he made a huffing sound and looked away, tearing off a chunk of the muffin and putting it into his mouth.

"How long have you two known each other?" Chin asked curiously, his eyes flickering between the two of them. Danni shrugged, watching as Steve got to his feet and headed away from them. Shaking her head she looked down at her watch before looking back at Chin.

"Give or take four hours though we've only been working together for the past two and a half"

"Four hours?" Chin repeated in shock.

"More like three because there was a gap in the middle of it" she said "When I left the McGarrett house and went back to the station, Steve stayed at his dad's home. We weren't anything then" she explained. "Then he came to the police station and told the governor that he was making me his partner and that apparently is that. I didn't get much say in it. One minute I'm partnered to Meka, the next I'm partnered to Steve."

"You must have made quite the impression on him" Chin remarked before he frowned "Meka? As in Meka Hanamoa?" Danni nodded.

"Yeah I arrived here six months ago and the Captain partnered us together straight away, probably because he was the only one open minded enough to work with a Haole from the mainland who also happened to be female. It's apparently a crime to be both" she said with a shrug.

"Tough for you to deal with" Chin said softly. Danni shrugged again.

"Nothing I can't handle" she said firmly. "Plus me and Meka really hit it off so that helped." She looked up when Steve walked back to them, holding three coffees and a small bag in his hands. He handed Chin one of the coffee before he placed the other two in front of Danni and himself. He reached into the bag and pulled out two sandwich, one of which he passed to Danni who took it with surprise.

"Eat that" he said. "It's just cheese and tomato, I can't have you fainting on me, I'd never hear the end of it from you. Ten years down the line you'd still be using it against me."

"I had food" she protested, waving her hand towards her muffin.

"No you had junk which would have left you hungry after thirty minutes, this will keep you filled up until we get something later" he said. Danni met his eyes for a moment before she nodded, opening the sandwich up, her stomach rumbling at the sight of it.

"Thank you" she said with a wide smile, reaching down and picking the sandwich up and taking a bite. Steve nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone.

"Chin I need you to take a look at this photo for me and tell me if you recognise her at all. Her name is Chen Chi" He brought up a picture of the girl from earlier and showed it to Chin, who took the phone from him, staring at the picture closely. Danni dug her elbow into Steve's ribs looking pointedly down at his unopened sandwich when he looked at her. Steve rolled his eyes at her but opened it, taking a large bite out of it.

Chin looked back up with a troubled look.

"Where did you find her?" he asked.

"In the house of a suspect we have locked up at the moment" Steve answered, Danni turned to him, picking up on the slight shift to his voice as he continued to speak. "This girl came here to start a new life, she came here to make something of herself and they took her and turned her into a prostitute pumping her full of drugs. She's just a child, she deserves better than this." He stated. Danni reached out without thinking, placing her hand on his back and rubbing it in a soothing manner, the same way she did with Grace when she was upset. Steve tensed for a moment before his muscles slowly relaxed beneath her palm. "What?" Steve asked, his attention fixed on Chin who was watching them with a smile.

"Nothing, it's just you remind me of your old man, he had the same fire in him as well." Chin responded, his eyes flickering between Steve and Danni as he handed the phone back to Steve.

"Then help me like you helped him Chin, he always spoke highly of you saying that you were the best cop he's trained. You said earlier that you wanted to do something, well this is your chance to" he stated. Danni nodded when Chin glanced at her, taking her hand away from Steve's back and turning her attention back to her sandwich. She was aware of Steve's eyes flickering towards her for a moment before he looked back to his phone bringing up a picture of Victor Hesse. Danni recognised it as a close up of one of the surveillance pictures which was in his file. "This guy" Steve said indicating his phone. "Is high profile, his name is Victor Hesse and he's on everyone's watch list. FBI, CIA, Interpol, you name an agency and they'll know of him. This type of man can't just stroll in and get his passport stamped at customs without bringing the world down on his head. We-" he said waving his hand towards Danni "Think that he was back channelled in."

Steve placed his phone on the table, taking another bite from his sandwich.

"So you both think that this Hesse used the same network which was used to smuggle in Chen Chi and others like her?" Chin asked, taking a sip of the coffee Steve got him, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"We're pretty positive" Danni answered. "Like ninety five percent positive. It's the only scenario which makes any sense."

"Yeah, he made a fortune trafficking kids out of Malaysia, he-"

"Stop" Chin interrupted. "The Malaysia area you said? In that case you're looking for a snakehead" he remarked confidently. Danni frowned in confusion, a look which Chin caught as he went on to explain. "A snakehead is a name for the local Chinese gangs that specialise in human smuggling, generally not a nice group to have to deal with."

"Okay so it's good to know who we are dealing with" Danni remarked, placing her sandwich down and brushing her hands together to get rid of the crumbs. "Do you happen to have a name for the head of this snake?" she asked Chin, raising an eyebrow when Chin moved back from them, his grip tightening on his cup.

"Are you kidding me?" he stated flatly looking between them, "Look at me, I'm just a rubber gun now, why would I have information like that?" He demanded.

"Because you were a cop for fifteen years" Danni responded bluntly. "You still have contacts from your time serving. Favours from people which are still outstanding because you haven't cashed them in yet, every cop does. You could use one of those favours now" she pointed out. "We need a name Chin, we need your help" she pleaded. Chin met her eyes for a moment before he looked at Steve with a sigh.

"There is one guy who I know who owes me a few favours. He still has tied that that world, ties he could use but-"

"Get us an introduction Chin" Steve said brusquely.

"Forget it" Chin answered back equally brusquely. "This guy is a former confidential informant. You know how he's stayed alive so long? It's because he doesn't trust anyone, he doesn't trust Haoles especially Haoles fresh from the mainland, no offence" Chin said glancing at Danni with an apologetic gleam to his eyes.

"You're hardly saying something which I haven't heard before" Danni responded flatly, she took the last bite of her stomach, crunching up the paper into a ball, annoyance flowing through her.

"Fine in that case you can talk to him for us. He might not trust me or Danni but he clearly trusts you"

"I'm busy" Chin said, his voice cooling noticeably as he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're busy" Danni repeated leaning towards the older man. "What exactly is so important here that you won't help us close down a trafficking ring? I might not have visited Pearl Harbour yet but it doesn't exactly strike me as a centre of crime unless you're expected a whole group of kids to raid the gift shop intent on snow globes this afternoon."

"Forget it Danni" Chin snapped, taking her by surprise at the use of her name. "I can't be a cop anymore and that's the end of it" Danni blinked as Chin came to his feet, running an agitated hand through his wavy black hair. She turned to Steve as Chin walked passed them intent on the exit.

"Do something Steve" she hissed at him.

"Why not?" Steve called after Chin, looking away from Danni as he twisted around in his chair so he was facing Chin. "You say you can't be a cop anymore, well why can't you be?"

Danni watched as Chin turned to face them again, an angry look on his face as he took a step towards them both.

"Because I can't be, just understand that! I can't be a cop because HPD accused me of being a dirty cop and taking payoffs. I'm the last person anyone wants to be seen wearing a badge." Danni's mouth fell open in surprise as she stared at Chin, every instinct she possessed told her that Chin didn't take the money, she didn't know why she felt so strongly about it but she did.

"Did you take the money?" Steve asked. Chin frowned at him.

"What?" he demanded.

"Did-you-take-the-money" Steve repeated, speaking slowly and pausing after every word to increase its impact, his gaze focused on Chin. Chin stared back, his head lifting slightly.

"No" he replied clearly. Danni looked at Steve, meeting his questioning gaze when he turned to look at her. She glanced towards Chin who was watching them, a hopeful look in his eyes which he clearly couldn't quell. A slight smile came to her mouth as she turned back to Steve and nodded once at him. Her smile widening slightly when a look of satisfaction briefly crossed Steve's face before it was gone. She watched as Steve climbed to his feet, taking a step towards Chin.

"Then come with us" Steve offered, waving his hand back at Danni who smiled in response when Chin's gaze followed the movement to her. "And we don't ever have to talk about this again. Ever" he added for good measure. "Consider this offer your ticket back into the game. Call it payback against everyone who turned their back on you, hell call it justice if you want. All I know is that we need you" he said.

"You might as well save yourself some time and say yes" Danni piped up, smiling at Chin when he looked back at her. "Steve doesn't take no for an answer when his mind is made up over something. Trust me on that, I should know."

"What makes you think you can trust me?" Chin asked. Steve shrugged.

"Because my old man did" he answered, Danni waited, holding her breath as Chin remained silently, clearly thinking about the offer. A sudden wide smile came to his face as he nodded.

"In that case I accept your offer" he said. "Wait here while I go and hand in my notice. I'll meet you back here shortly then I'll take you to my informant" He nodded at them, leaving the way they had come in, a spring to his step which was missing previously. Danni turned to Steve when he sat down next to her again and raised her eyebrow at him.

"He was the one you had in mind wasn't he?" she asked curiously. Steve nodded his head.

"Yeah, he's real good at being a cop, I figured that you would want another cop on the team" he said, picking up his sandwich again.

"He seems nice" Danni said, Steve nodded. For a moment they sat in silence before Danni spoke again. "Having him on the team will cause friction with HPD" she remarked quietly.

"It's nothing we can't handle Danni" Steve answered turning to her.

"I like him" she said in response to his silent question, looking back over her shoulder towards the entrance. Turning back she picked up her coffee and took another sip. "And no Steve, I don't believe he's dirty. Let's hope he can get us that name" she remarked.

"Lets." Steve replied with a half-smile at her.

"I don't even want to know what you're smiling at now" she said. "Just be quiet and eat your sandwich" she remarked "Then eat the muffin" she said, tearing off a bit of the muffin and popping it into her mouth to prove a point.

"Yes Ma'am" Steve responded sounded amused.

Danni shook her head.

He was going to be the death of her, she was positive of it.

* * *

Author Note

**Thanks for reading **


	12. Do you have cherry?

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**I'm so glad that people seem to be liking this story, I can't believe it's already got seventy reviews, that just blows my mind that people like it enough to review. Every review makes me smile and makes me want to work on this story more and more! **

**I'm determined to get it finished soon and I'm determined to do the second episode in the same way, changing Danny to a girl and seeing what happens, the only difference as I've said before is that the next story will be done completely from Steve's point of view which will be interesting. Not only because it will give me a chance to explore Steve but also because it will give me a chance to see how the other characters view Danni. It's not so easy to do that in this story because it's done from Danni's point of view.**

**This chapter was fun to write… though saying that every chapter so far is fun to write, watching the developing relationship between Steve and Danni is always a highlight. I literally enjoy writing every conversation they have. I'm also liking the relationship which is slowly springing up between Danni and Chin. I'm thinking that relationship could end up being an interesting one to write as well.**

**Since I changed Danni to a girl I've also decided to switch her family around. So instead of having one brother and three sisters like male Danny does, female Danni has one sister (The Matt of the piece) and three younger brothers, one of who is mentioned in the chapter below. I just wanted to clear that up **

**This chapter is slightly shorter than the other ones, but it is still well over 4000 words so I don't think I've short changed any of you **

**I've also used an Hawaiian phrase which I got form a website so sorry if it's incorrect!**

**Anyway please enjoy **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Everything has a price… even information**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Do you have Cherry?

* * *

"Wow, now that's quite the shirt, it's very bright and green and kind of blinding as well" Danni remarked with a raised eyebrow when Chin walked through the tent entrance dressed in his own clothes. He looked younger somehow, his head held up high as though a great pressure had been lifted off his shoulders.

"It's quite tame to some of the others I own" Chin answered with a smile as he came to a stop by them, looking down at the shirt in question.

"Really" Danni said with a nod. "That's good to know, perhaps we can swap numbers later and you can give me a text to warn me when you're planning on wearing one of the other shirts, that way I can be prepared and bring my sunglasses in with me to wear to protect my eyes." She remarked, unable to keep the grin off her face when she saw the amused look that came to Chin's face at the her comment.

"We can swap numbers but I don't think I'll be warning you, it be much more entertaining for me not to" Danni rolled her eyes at him.

"That's teamwork for you" she responded dryly.

"How come you haven't offered to give me your number?" Steve asked looking towards Danni with a frown on his face. "I'm your partner, it's much more important for me to have it then Chin at this moment in time."

"My number" she said turning to face him head on, her arms crossed over her chest as she scanned his face. "You already have my number Steve, you've probably had my number from the minute you decided to make me your partner, you either got it from the Captain or knowing you and the fact that you worked in naval intelligence and have people there willing to do you favour, got it from them. I've no doubt in my mind that you've probably already done a full background check on me which would have included my phone number. No doubt you were planning on calling me later when I was at home and distracted by Grace so you could then make out that I gave you the number earlier today. Am I right?" she asked.

She smiled when she caught the startled look on Steve's face before he forced his expression to a blankness. She looked over her shoulder when Chin started laughing, the sound rich and warm as his eyes moved between them before they focused on Steve.

"She's got you there Brah" Chin remarked, holding up his hand when Steve glared at him. "Hey take some advice, sometimes it's easier to just admit defeat."

"Can we get back to the task at hand" Steve demanded, "Can we reach your guy by foot or do we have to drive there?"

Danni and Chin shared an amused look before Chin spoke, his voice becoming serious.

"It's a twenty minute walk from here to where we need to go so it would be easier if we drove there. I'm guessing every second counts on a case like this" he stated.

"It does" Steve agreed, he held out his hand to Danni, palm up. "Keys Danni" he said firmly. Danni looked at him, she had to hand it to the man he was certainly persistent. At this rate she might start letting him drive just to get a moment's peace from him. Still, she wasn't quite ready to give into him yet. She looked at his exposed palm and smiled slightly, reaching out with her own and slapping it down on it in a classic hi-five. She turned to Chin who was watching them with a wide grin again.

"Do you need a lift there Chin?" she asked him curiously. "Because there's room in my car, I can throw Steve into the backseat and you could take the passenger seat if you want?" She offered, glancing back towards Steve and smiling when she saw the enraged expression that came over his face at her words. He caught her gaze, making a huffing sound, crossing his arms over his chest as they made their way out of the shaded tent and into the bright sunlight.

"Thanks for the offer Danni, but I'm all good" Chin answered leading them into the car park where she had parked. "This is my ride here" he stated, resting his hand against a gleaming black motorbike. Danni's eyes widened as she whistled.

"A Harley Davidson" she stated, "Very nice."

"It is" Chin answered, looking at her with renewed interest. "Do you know a lot about bikes?" Danni shrugged, holding her hand up and moving it side to side.

"Enough" she said, looking back to the bike. "How fast can she go? It looks like you've had some additional work done on her, it co-" her word became muffled when a large, warm hand was placed over her mouth.

"We'll follow you Chin" Steve said from just behind her, using his other hand to turn her and push her towards the car. He let go of her when they were out of earshot range.

"Was that really necessary" Danni snapped, glaring at him as she stopped by the car. "You do that again and I'll bite you, consider that fair warning." She fished out the keys, unlocking the car and getting in, flinging her bag onto the backseat.

"By the time you had finished speaking, it would have been night time and we would have lost the whole afternoon. You and Chin can bond later on when we have the time" Steve stated bluntly, pulling on his seatbelt

"How nice of you" Danni responded back, "Are you going to allocate us a little time each day so we can talk to each other? Perhaps you could make a timetable up and add a little Danni and Chin talking time" she started the car up. "Are we going to have an allocated time as well Steve, because if we do then maybe we could make this our let's not talk time, that I could actually go for right now" she said.

"No" Steve said sharply, "There's not going to be any timetable or anything else that your mind can come up with." Danni shrugged.

"If my attempting to get to know my new team mate through conversation bothers you so much then maybe you should just partner me with Chin and then you can pick someone else who is just as dedicated as you are."

"No" Steve snapped, his voice rising showing his annoyance as he turned to her. "You're my partner Danni, not Chin's, not whoever the new person will be and not Meka's either. You're mine and that's the end of it. So can we end this pointless conversation and actually get on with our job before Hesse escapes the island."

Danni fell silent for a moment thinking over what Steve had said, she wanted to yell at him or better yet hit him but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not after everything Steve had been through recently, perhaps he saw the team as a chance to re-establish some sort of order to his life, a team which he could rely on to have his back just like his SEAL team had his back. She knew Steve had been high up in the ranks of the navy, his title indicated that, but she wasn't sure how SEAL teams worked, did being a Lieutenant commander mean that Steve had been in charge? If that was the case then she supposed she could just about understand his reaction. He had chosen her as his partner out of everyone meaning he saw something in her which he needed. She just didn't know what that something was.

She cleared her throat, the sound loud in the silent car and spoke, her voice quiet.

"I am your partner" she said, keeping her eyes focused on Chin's back through the window screen. "And I'm not going to up and leave you until you tell me to go, which could happen, I know I talk too much and that I can be impulsive but that's never a bad thing, at least not in my book." She said, aware that Steve had turned to look at her. "But I'm not one of your SEALs, you can't order me around and expect me to fall into line. That's not the way it works in a partnership. We do this together, meaning you ask me to do stuff for you, not demand. You don't push me around or drag me to where you want me to be. You show me respect and allow me to go myself. You explain your decisions to me. I'm your partner and your second command, how can I be either of those things if you treat me as though I'm beneath you?" she said, coming to a stop at a light and looking at him. "You might know Chin but I don't and it's important to me that I start building up some sort of relationship with one of the people who is going to have my back in the middle of the fight. The same way as we're building a relationship up. You understand?"

There was another long silence, broken only by the sound of them breathing and Danni driving.

"I understand" Steve answered. Danni nodded.

"Now that is good" she said with a sigh of relief, "Because if you hadn't then we would have had problems and we would never have worked"

"We'll work Danni" he said "This will work"

"That remains to be seen Steve" she answered back. "But it be nice if it could, I don't want to have to change partners again."

"Do you like motorbikes?" he asked her curiously, suddenly changing the subject.

"I neither like nor dislike them" she answered.

"How do you know about Chin's bike then?" Steve questioned, "You knew the type it was and the fact that it had work on it, if you weren't keen then how would you know?" Danni shrugged.

"I come from a large family Steve" she said simply, "One of my younger brother's Michael is a complete and utter motorbike freak. He loves them, sometimes I think he loves them more than his girlfriend. He's got quite a few models in his garage, one of which happens to be a Harley Davidson which looks almost identical to Chin's one. Michael had a lot of work done on it, extras though I don't exactly know what he had done. He realised that I didn't mind it and so invited me to come with him on a few rides and to help him pick out his newest bike."

"Why did you go if you aren't bothered by it?" Steve asked, looking at her with a curious look.

"Because that's what you do in the real world Steve" she said. "You find a common interest with someone and you use it to bond and strengthen a relationship. The more you have in common the better it is. I now know that Chin likes bikes, I also don't mind bikes which means that I'll be able to talk to him about it. That will help us get to know each other. Eventually you and I will find some common interest though at the moment the only common ground we seem to have is that we both like coffee and we both want to drive my car." she stated blandly, looking towards Steve, a smile coming to her face at the sight of his half smile.

"So you can actually ride a bike?" Steve asked. Danni nodded.

"I can ride a bike, perhaps not as well as most people but enough that I won't end up as road kill or with my head in a tree, you?" she questioned back.

"I can ride" he responded causing Danni to laugh.

"I'd be more surprised if you couldn't" she said shaking her head.

"You know they rent out motorbikes here, have you ever thought about renting one and exploring?" Steve queried.

"It would be nice" she said. "But I doubt it, I only went riding with Michael, I never went out by myself. If I didn't do it in New Jersey then I'm certainly not doing it here. I'd get lost in minutes and it would be highly embarrassing especially if one of my friends heard about it. I would never hear the end of it from them. Maybe Chin will take me one day, I could always ask but not yet" She nodded to the front. "Looks like we're here" she announced, hitting the indicator and following Chin into yet another car park. She twisted in her seat grabbing her bag and got out, shading her eyes from the sunlight as she looked around her.

Danni recognised the beach instantly as one which Amy had dragged her to, it was crowded, filled with tourists and surfers all intent on getting a tan and hitting the water.

"It's this way" Chin remarked, leading them away from the cars and towards a large wooden hut. Danni stopped for a moment, slipping off her high heels and throwing them into her bag, she looked down at the warm sand with a smile as she wriggled her toes into it.

"Danni?" Danni looked up at the sound of Steve's shout and lifted her hand into the air to indicate that she had heard him. She headed after them, catching up as they came to the hut. She tilted her head back looking at the sign.

Kamekona's shaved ice.

She brought her head back down watching as Chin approached the large, heavyset man who stood behind the counter.

"Kamekona" he called out, reaching over the counter and hugging the man, his arms barely making it around him. "What's flavour is good today?" The man's wide face broke out into a large toothy grin as he slapped his hand across Chin's back, sending him flying into the counter.

"Ouch" Danni muttered, wincing for Chin, a hit like that would certainly leave a bruise.

"We got all flavours here my brother, you know that. Personally I'd go for the passion fruit or the Lychee or there's cotton candy-"

"How about a name Brah?" Chin asked quietly, leaning towards Kamekona. Kamekona leaned back, his smile disappearing as he stared around him, his eyes landing on Steve and Danni. His eyes focused on Steve narrowing slightly before they looked at Danni, a sudden smile coming to his face as he nodded at her, looking back at Chin.

"We'll talk Brah but your little sidekicks have to wait outside but only after they paid. Let's start with two ice cones, what flavour do you want?" Danni glanced at Steve, her eyes focusing on the tick in Steve's jaw before Steve moved forward.

"Cotton Candy" he stated.

"One Cotton Candy" Kamekona called back to the two men working behind him, he turned back focusing his attention on Danni. "And for you Na'ua Pua?" Danni frowned slightly at the unfamiliar Hawaiian phase, she glanced towards Steve noticing that his face had gone blank again before she looked back at Kamekona and smiled.

"Do you do Cherry flavour?" she asked curiously, her smile growing when Kamekona beamed at her, it was the kind of smile that you couldn't help but respond to.

"You're in luck Na'ua Pua, I've just got the cherry in" he said, slapping his hand down on a box on the counter. "It's the best cherry on the island."

"Well that is a lucky break for me then" she agreed. "I'll have a cherry shaved ice please"

"Two cones boys, one cotton candy and one cherry, plus two t-shirts to go" Danni blinked in surprise when Kamekona held up a pale blue t-shirt, holding it against himself. She watched as Steve turned to Chin, his eyes narrowing at the amused expression on Chin's face before he sighed.

"Medium for me" Steve stated "And an extra small or small for Danni"

"Extra small please" Danni confirmed, somehow she had the feeling that extra small would be the equivalent of a medium everywhere else.

"No can do Brah, These only come in extra-large and up, you wouldn't see my face on anything else." Kamekona announced proudly as he opened up the t-shirt holding it against himself proudly.

"Wow" Danni said, "That's quite the t-shirt, it's really large as well" she commented, looking towards Steve when he looked back at her, an amused glint to his eyes as his shoulders let go of some of the tension in them. He pulled out his wallet from one of the pockets in his cargo pants and took a step forward.

"How much kala Bulleh?" He asked. Danni moved slightly so she could see the look on their faces, Kamekona seemed impressed despite himself.

"So you speak bird then?" he asked. Steve nodded.

"Yeah I grew up here" Steve answered, Kamekona nodded slowly before he shrugged.

"It don't matter" he said simply "You still look Hauli to me" he turned to Danni. "And you? Did you grow up here?" he asked.

"No I didn't" she answered "I moved here six months ago."

"Six months and I've never seen your face? You come to the beach often?" he asked, Danni opened her mouth to speak, closing it when Steve snorted. She glared at him and looked back to Kamekona.

"Not a great deal" she answered. "I'm a busy woman."

"I bet you are" Kamekona responded with a wink. He looked away from her as Steve slapped down a fifty into the palm of his hand.

"This one is looking a little lonely Brah" Kamekona remarked, his hand still held out. Steve glanced at him before he looked around at Danni who smiled sweetly at him.

"You heard the man Steve, that note is a bit lonely, you best give him another one?" her smile grew when he glared at her, reaching into his wallet and pulling out another fifty which he handed over.

"Very nice" Kamekona remarked, closing his hand over the money. Steve reached out taking the two t-shirts and the two ice cones from Kamekona, he nodded at him and Chin before he turned towards Danni.

"Let's go Danni" he stated, heading back towards the area where they had parked.

"There's one more thing I'd like you fine Haoles to do for me" Kamekona called after them. Danni winced, looking back to Kamekona. "I'd like you both to put the T-shirts on now and wear it while me and your fine friend here speak. It be good for business, I'm sure you understand."

Danni's mouth fell open when Steve nodded, turning and handing the ice cones to Chin before he pulled on the t-shirt. Danni heart dropped when she saw how much the material swamped his muscular frame. If it did that to Steve then she had no chance.

"Here Danni" Steve said, holding the t-shirt out to her. Danni blinked at it.

"You've got to be kidding me" she hissed. Steve smiled.

"Come on Danni, we've all got to do things we don't want to do" Danni glared at him as she took the T-shirt from his hand, holding it out in front of her. She sighed, casting a quick look at Chin and Kamekona before she pulled the t-shirt on. Adjusting it slightly, she looked down and shook her head, the t-shirt fell past her knees, it was so big on her that she could have fitted at least another person in there. She glanced up at the sound of Steve's laughter and glared at him, trying to ignore how nice his laugh actually was.

"I hate you so much" she hissed at him.

"Looking good my Na'ua Pua, you will definitely bring the customers in" Kamekona called out to her.

"Thanks" Danni said, "Anything to help" she moved to Chin, holding out her hand for the shaved ice which he handed over to him, his face twisting in suppressed amusement. "Say a word or laugh and I will run over your baby" she threatened, turning and storming away with as much dignity as she could manage. She held her head up, ignoring the flush she could feel spreading over her cheeks as she came to a stop by the car. She was tempted to take the t-shirt off but knowing her luck Kamekona had cameras all over the place and would know. She watched Steve approach before she looked down, stabbing her spoon into her ice. "Say a word and I'll kill you" she said.

"Let's hope this is worth it and he gives us the name we need" Steve said after a pause.

"Chin seemed pretty confident that this was the guy to talk to" Danni responded, taking a bite of the ice, she made a pleased sound in the back of her throat. "What do you know, he wasn't lying about the cherry flavour. This is really good, the best I've had" She looked up at Steve. "I didn't realise you spoke the language" she said.

"It's what happens when you grow up here" Steve answered. Danni nodded.

"I only know the extreme basics, hello, goodbye, thank you. Other than that nothing. I should learn so I know what people call me. Amy has a nickname for me, Meka has one but I don't know what they mean. I mean what on earth was Kamekona calling me? Na'ua Pua was it? What does that mean?"

"Na'ua Pua means little flower" Steve said quietly, Danni turned to him.

"Little flower?" she repeated, she glanced back at the hut. "Oh, well that's actually not that bad" she remarked "I thought it was going to be an insult."

"Nope, not an insult" Steve answered. "He was complimenting you Danni."

"A compliment?" she said with a wry laugh. "Now those have been rare since moving here, normally all I hear are insults."

"Danni-"Steve began stopping when a small girlish voice interrupted them.

"Are you both cops"? Danni turned away from Steve, her gaze focusing on the small girl staring up at them with questioning dark eyes.

"Do you need help?" Danni asked with a raised eyebrow. The girl shook her head.

"No" she said confidently, "So does that mean you're cops?" Danni watched as Steve leaned towards the girl.

"No, do you like cotton candy?" he asked offering her the shaved ice "Go and find your mother" The girl shot him an unimpressed look.

"I don't like cotton candy" she stated. Danni smiled, catching sight of Steve's face.

"I've got something you might like" she commented, reaching into the car and pulling out the large pink bunny which she had brought for Grace. "Would you like this?" she asked. The girl nodded her face lighting up. "Then it's yours" she said, handing it over.

"Thank you" the girl stated happily, turning and running back towards a harassed looking woman who was clearly her mother. She glanced at Steve, tilting her head in a questioning manner when he stared at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Do you always happen to have fluffy pink rabbit toys in your backseat?" he asked.

"Yeah, don't you?" she asked back grinning when Steve's face broke into a smile.

"Look at the pair of you" Chin called out as he approached them, clapping his hands together. "Looking good"

"You better have a name" Steve threatened, Danni waited only until Chin nodded before she placed the shaved ice on the floor and ripped off the t-shirt, she scrunched it up into a ball and threw it at Chin, smiling when it hit him square in the face.

"Nice shot" Steve said with a smile as he took his own t-shirt off. Danni smiled at him as she picked up her shaved ice.

"I thought so to" she said. "I suggest we head back to our building so we can discuss the information Chin has found, then research his ass and then come up with a plan." Steve nodded at her.

"Good thinking, Chin meet us at the Aliiolani Hale, we're based on the second floor" Steve stated, throwing his shaved ice into the bin as he headed round to the passenger side.

"See you there" Danni added, flashing him a smile before she started the car up, she passed her cherry shaved ice to Steve.

"Hold that" she said "And don't even think of having any" she warned as she followed Chin out of the car park, a slight smile coming to her face when Steve automatically took a bite of the cherry. She saw him wince out the corner of her eyes.

"Brain freeze?" she asked, "That my friend is what we call karma!"

"Just step on it Danni, we've got work to do" Steve answered, a tinge of amusement to his voice. Danni nodded.

They certainly had work to do.

* * *

Author Note

**Thanks for reading!**

**An especially massive thanks if you plan to review or favourite or follow the story. It means a lot to me **


	13. How does he do that?

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**Here's the next chapter, sorry for the delay in getting it to you but I really needed a break for a day from the story. It's slowly taking over my life so I needed just one day away from it! Now I'm back fresh and ready to go.**

**I always enjoy the process of writing because I never know where the story is going to end up! Every time I think I know the direction the story is heading it suddenly shifts into another direction and I'm merely brought along for the ride. **

**Take Chin **Polls+**and Danni for example, I always knew that they would get on because I know they get on in the show but I didn't expect then to get on so well so quickly. Writing their scenes together is fun, especially the one at the beginning of this chapter, which came completely out of the blue, I didn't expect it but it was just the way it went. I feel like Chin and Danni have been friends for years, united in their amusement at Steve's actions.**

**There's also the Steve and Danni relationship which is growing so quickly as well. There was so many little scenes in this chapter, which I could easily have turned romantic if I made the slightest bit of effort, which was something I didn't expect. It's like every scene they have together is slowly cementing something and I like that! They just make sense to me and hopefully they are making sense to the reader as well. There's definitely a friendship blooming and something more as well, at least I think so.**

**The show is all about the Steve and Danny relationship, I don't understand why the writers don't see that and focus on them. The show doesn't work without it!**

**Saying that it's also been fun writing Steve because in the pilot he is still very much a SEAL, his mind set is focused on the task at hand regardless of everything else which is going on! It's good that Danni is there to bring him back from that state of mind!**

**I don't think I've ever written such long chapters for a story before!**

**Anyway please enjoy **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**You've got someone in mind, haven't you?**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

How does he do that?

* * *

"Okay I've seriously got to hand it to the pair of you, I've no idea how the hell you managed to secure the Aliiolani Hale as our headquarters but I'm damn impressed that you have. This certainly beats the old police precinct hands down."

"You'll have to speak to our leader to see how he did it" Danni remarked, slamming the car door behind her. "I had nothing to do with it."

"Well?" Chin said, turning his attention to Steve. "Care to share how you did it?" Steve looked between the two of them, a half-smile coming to his face before he spoke.

"Nope" Danni looked away from Steve to look at Chin and winked.

"What he is really saying is that he has no idea how he did it. No doubt the Governor simply rang him and told him where to go and that she would sort everything else out." She grinned at Steve. "Am I right?" she asked cheekily, her grin widening when he glared at her. "I'm right" she told Chin.

"Best remember to thank the lady in charge Steve" Chin said, pushing himself off his bike as he headed over to them. "The police department have been trying for ages to get permission to have this as their headquarters. There's gonna be quite a few ruffled feathers that we've been given the building"

"I think anything we do for the next few weeks will ruffle their feathers" Danni said thoughtfully, her gaze moving away from Chin to stare at the building behind him. "I bet the air con doesn't break down here" she stated happily. "It never worked in the other place" she said, glancing at Chin in time to catch his expression. "What?" she asked curiously. "What's with the face?"

"The air con would have worked" Chin said, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck.

"No it didn't" she stated, "I was there for six months and it didn't work once, it was horrible in that room" She stopped, searching his dark eyes. "Oh" she said flatly. "I get it, it worked when I wasn't there but when I walked in they turned it off? Am I right?"

"Yeah, it was an old trick they use on Haoles, I remember your Dad telling me about it Steve, they did the same thing to him when he first started. The police Department don't like strangers coming in and telling them what to do, especially when that person is female, a lot of the guys are still old fashioned there."

"Personally I would have thought that spending the time actually working on cases would be a better use of time then hazing the new person but clearly I'm wrong" Danni said. "Shall we head in?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, her gaze focusing on the building again. God she hoped that this place would work out better for her then the police department had, she couldn't bear the thought of going back there again and having to endure the other detectives attitude towards her.

"We can discuss this later" Steve said, his eyes lingering on Danni's face for a moment before he nodded towards the entrance hall. "We've got work to do and not enough time to do it, we've got to figure out what our next plan of action is going to be."

"Yes Sir Commander Sir, whatever you say" Danni muttered under her breath as Steve moved away from them. She made sure he wasn't about to look back before she saluted him.

"Yes Danni, it is whatever I say, now get your ass in gear" Steve called back, glancing over his shoulder once before he entered the building. Danni blinked, her eyes flickering to Chin when he reached out and placed a finger under her chin and pushed up, closing her mouth.

"I wouldn't recommend standing with your mouth wide open, There's a lot of things here which you wouldn't want flying into your mouth, trust me, I'm a bit of an expert on it" he said, his dark eyes twinkling at her.

"I mean how?" she stuttered. "Just how did he hear that, I didn't say it loudly did I?" she demanded.

"Not particularly" Chin said with a shrug.

"Then how did he hear what I said?" she asked puzzled, shouldering her bag and heading across the car park towards the entrance. Chin shrugged, coming to her side and matching his walking pace to hers, his hands shoved into his pockets.

"I think it's a McGarrett thing" he confided. "His father was exactly the same, I swear that the man could hear everything which was going on within a five mile radius of himself. It didn't matter if you were in the same room as him or in another room down the hallway, somehow he always seemed to know what had been said, word for word. It appears that the ability has passed through his bloodline to his son as well. Either that or he's just tuned into your voice so he can pick it out over the crowd."

"People can't do that" Danni scoffed looking at the ground before she looked back at Chin. "Can they?" Chin shrugged.

"Perhaps it's something they teach in the military, don't they say that the buddy at their side is the most important person to them because they keep each other going and alive? You are now his partner which makes you that person."

"That is a terrifying thought" Danni said, looking at Steve through the glass. "Maybe it's nothing genetic at all, perhaps it's something as simple as the fact we've been bugged without realising it."

"Bugged?" Chin responded in disbelief. "You think he just happened to have mini bugs on his person?" he asked, a grin coming to his face when Danni nodded.

"Nothing he does surprises me anymore Chin" she said.

"Okay, let's say that for a moment I believed you, how would he have done it?" he asked. Danni shook her head, holding her hand against the door so they couldn't pull it open.

"You know it makes sense, he's Mr Navy SEAL, Mr I chase shoe bombers around the world and don't even break a sweat over it. If he wanted to put bugs on us then he would simply whip out his ninja moves, we wouldn't even know it had happened."

"That just makes him good at what he does" Chin pointed out.

"Steve was in the naval intelligence before that, he probably has loads of strange things around the place which are classified and stuff, things that we can't even imagine. Mini bugs could just be the tip of the iceberg" She stated, unable to keep the grin off her face any longer. There was something about Chin which reminded her of Meka.

"Or perhaps he just has really good hearing" Chin said. Danni hesitated before she nodded with a sigh of defeat.

"Or perhaps he just has really good hearing" She agreed, pulling the door open and entering the cool lobby. She winced when she caught sight of the constipated look on Steve's face.

"I did like your idea though" Chin said quietly.

"Shhhh" Danni said waving her hand at him, "He'll hear you."

"What part of little time to do it did you not get?" Steve asked, glaring at them both. He was already standing in the lift, his hand by the motion sensor stopping the door from closing on them.

"Oh I got it" Danni responded with a shrug. "I just didn't realise you meant that you wanted us to sprint to the lift, I thought you wanted us to walk like normal human beings. Next time Steve you need to be more concise with your instructions to stop this from occurring." She said sweetly, smiling at his face.

"He's going to kill you" Chin said, glancing up at the ceiling. Danni nodded, keeping Steve's gaze.

"Maybe" she replied "But not in public."

"Just get in already" Steve said. Danni rolled her eyes at him, slipping past him and taking the position just behind him, away from the door the same way she had been taught. It was harder for someone to get you in the corner and it would give you that second longer to grab your gun if someone started shooting, a second which could make all the difference between life and death.

"It was sweet of you to hold the door open" she couldn't resist saying. "Chin and I appreciate it, don't we Chin?" she said, nudging the other man in the side.

"Oh I'm not getting involved in this husband and wife quarrel" Chin said with a grin, crossing his arms and looking in the opposite direction from them. "I'll let you get on with it."

"I was actually holding the door open for Chin" Steve answered blandly. "You just happened to be there at the same time." Danni tilted her head, glaring at the back of Steve's neck. She could already picture the smirk which would be on Steve's face. She considered punching him in the kidney but resisted the urge. Steve would be expecting her to react, it would be better if he was unprepared for it. She made it two hits he had earned so far.

"Nice" she said after a slight pause, watching the numbers move. "To think that you could say that to me after I shared my chocolate muffin with you" She turned to Chin, jabbing her finger in Steve's direction. "Do you see what I have to put up with?" she asked. "You could have him as a partner if you want? We could do a swap, I'll take whoever is the other new person and you take Steve. I warn you though he'll probably want to ride your motorbike all the time and expect you to be the passenger."

"No one rides my baby but me" Chin remarked. Danni nodded her head.

"I can understand that" she said, meeting Steve's eyes when he moved so he could face her.

"Danni" he warned, the tone in his voice causing her to shake her head. She reached out and wrapped her hand around his forearm.

"I'm joking you idiot" she said quietly. "It's what people tend to do in lifts, they joke about because here's a news flash for you, being in a lift is pretty boring. You can join in the banter if you want, we won't say anything. There's no commanding officer here that you need to answer to unless you count the Governor and let's be honest she's given you a free pass to do what you want." She said, she squeezed his arm, patting it twice before she took her hand away, her gaze moving to the open doorway. "We're this way Chin" Danni said, moving past Steve into the corridor. She led the way to their area, opening the door for Chin and allowing him through before she quickly closed it, stopping Steve from walking in. "Are you okay?" she asked him seriously.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" he asked with a frown. Danni gave a disbelieving snort.

"Okay you seriously can't want me to answer that question" she said. "You need to chill out before you burst a blood vessel and get ill or something similar, we're going to get Hesse" she promised "One way or another he's going to pay."

"I know that Danni, but he's not going to pay if you and Chin sit around joking when there's work to be done. By the time you get serious over this Hesse will be gone."

Danni stared at him, her eyes narrowing at him.

"Don't ever question my resolve again Steve" she stated coldly, watching as his eyes widened at the sudden change in tone. "I am a hundred percent committed to catching the man who killed your father and probably hundreds of people just like him. Just because I choose to joke around in an elevator it doesn't mean anything. In fact I take that back, it means that I'm human." She met Steve's eyes. "I'm your partner" she said intensely. "So you need to trust me enough to know that I will have your back in the field and that I will do everything in my power to catch Hesse, whether that's from research or whatever it doesn't matter. But you need to trust me and for the record you also need to take that massive stick out of your ass, its making you look constipated and it's quite frankly annoying. Me and Chin aren't in the military so stop acting as though we are and join us down here on the realm that mortals live on, are we understood Steve?" she asked.

"Danni-"

"No, don't say Danni in that way you do which makes me feel guilty and stuff. Just say yes or no. Do you understand what I've said?" she asked.

"Yes" Steve said, Danni nodded.

"Well in that case Steve, we're going to get along great, as long as you remember it" She sighed, glancing down at his empty hands with a frown. "Where exactly is my cherry shaved ice thing? Please tell me that you did not leave it in the car!"

"No," Steve said "I threw it away, it was melting and you clearly weren't going to eat it."

"I clearly wasn't going to eat it?" she repeated, her mouth falling open in disbelief. "When did I give that impression to you, was it when I said it was the nicest cherry shaved ice thing which I had tasted since being here or was it the fact that I was eating it which gave it away. I had planned to eat it here, hence why I gave it to you to hold in the car rather than throwing it away when you threw yours away."

"I'm sorry" Steve said "Really Danni, I'm sorry that I threw away your ice shaved thing. I know that the world has ended because you can't finish it, can you hear that?" he asked, cupping a hand around his ear. "That is the sound of a million people crying out at your loss."

Danni blinked.

"A million people" she repeated, her mouth twitching. Steve nodded.

"All of them crying out for you" he answered, a gleam to his eyes though his face remained fixed in a serious expression.

"A million is a lot of people, you'd think they'd make more noise" she said.

"Well perhaps I should bust out my SEAL ninja moves while I bug them" he said. "Or perhaps it's the special power of hearing which was passed through my bloodline which enables me to hear them when you can't" he suggested, flashing her a smile. He reached passed her and opened the door, placing his hand on her shoulders and guiding her into the room. He leaned down and spoke in her ear. "Best close your mouth Danni, who knows what might fly in" he said, squeezing down on her shoulder before he walked past her.

"But how… how… you…" her words trailed off as she shook her head staring after him, her eyes narrowing at his back.

"This place is amazing" Chin stated as he came out of the kitchen. "Do we actually have an office each?" he demanded "Because I want this one" he waved his hand towards Danni's empty office.

"No can do Chin my man" Steve said as he headed towards his own office. "That office belongs to Danni, I picked it for her."

"It has a view" Danni stated, still staring after Steve.

"A view of the beach" Steve agreed, glancing over his shoulder and grinning at her. "You can take one of the other two" he said, turning his attention back to Chin who glanced between them with a curious look which slowly became knowing. Danni looked away as Steve re-entered the room holding a laptop in his arms. Danni was no expert but taking in the small size of the machine and the way that Steve was holding it in his arms as though it was a child she was willing to bet that it cost more than her yearly wage and then some.

Shaking her head, she headed over to the table, resting her arms against the surface of it as Steve booted the laptop up. He looked up at Chin, turning the computer round so it was facing the older man and nodded at it.

"Chin, bring up any information on the name which Kamekona gave to you" he commanded. "This laptop is linked not only to the Honolulu police department but also the military database. If there's any information to be found on the guy, this machine here should enable us to see it."

Chin nodded his head, a thoughtful look on his face as he took a step towards the table.

"Dare I actually ask you where you got this from?" he asked, bringing the laptop closer to him so he could use it.

"Best if you don't know" Steve replied, resting his hands on the table. Danni rolled her eyes.

"Because saying it like that doesn't automatically make the whole thing mysterious and interesting" she said with a sigh, waving her hand at Steve in a dismissive manner when he looked away from Chin towards her, a glint of amusement in his eyes. "I know don't tell me, it's best if you don't know is Steve talk for the information you require Chin is actually classified, I hope you understand this and not ask me pointless questions again. Is that right?" she asked.

Steve considered her sentence before he nodded.

"You're learning Danni" Danni nodded.

"I'm sure within two weeks I'll be the official Steve translator for the other members of the team. I should set up some working hours, I don't want calls all hours of the day. I've got to get some sleep after all."

"I doubt that will happen, I'd be with you most of the time" Steve said with a shrug.

"Will you now" Danni said "That's news to me, you'll be at home by yourself, not with me"

They both turned to Chin when he gave a pointed cough, looking at them both before he spoke.

"Just in case anyone is interested, this is the face which according to the database goes with the name that Kamekona gave me earlier" Chin remarked, turning the computer back around so they could see the screen. Danni stared at the mug shot in front of her, taking in the sullen expression, the bad hair and dark eyes. She breathed out loudly, a wave of anger coming over her. How many women had stared into this face, terrified out of their minds as they were sold against their will into slavery by the very same man who had promised to help them when he had taken their money?

"What have you found out on him?" Steve asked, attracting Danni's attention away from her thoughts. She turned to Chin and waiting for his answer, her mind flipping effortlessly into work mode.

"He is called Sang Min" Chin answered. "He came to Hawaii from China roughly about eight years ago, I say roughly because we can't confirm the exact date of his arrival" he said.

"Why not?" Steve asked.

"He's illegal" Danni answered, reaching up and pulling at her bottom lip.

"Exactly" Chin agreed. "The Honolulu Police Department encountered him eight years ago when he was brought in on a charge of aggravated assault against a Bouncer at one of the night clubs. The Bouncer never pressed charges against him so they were forced to let him go."

"Why let him go if he's illegal?" Steve queried.

"My guess would be that he had some sort of falsified document at the time" Danni answered for Chin. "A harassed police officer would simply look at it, see the valid visa and probably think nothing more of it. Some of the fakes they do now is amazing. My brother works in immigration, he's stationed at the airport and some of the examples of fakes he's seen are crazy, you'd never know they weren't real unless you had, had intense training on it. I'm assuming that the Honolulu police department haven't had that training" she said, looking enquiringly at Chin who nodded.

"They would see it as a waste of money" he agreed. "It's likely Sang Min has been here a lot longer than he has said."

"What else do you know on him?" Steve asked, "Have we any personal details or history on him which can be used?"

"There's not much that I can see. We'd have to see the original file from eight years ago. A lot of the work was still being handwritten at the time. I doubt they've gotten around to writing those files up yet and adding them to the computer system, especially on a case which wasn't really a case because the victim didn't press charges."

"Danni, could you look into getting that file for us?" Steve said, Danni nodded.

"I might be able to get it today" she said "If not today then definitely tomorrow depending on where it is in the file storage room."

"Understood" Steve said looking back to Chin. "Do we know anything on him?"

"Well he's married to a woman called Eve who is originally from Rwanda. We'd have to check it out with Immigration but I'm willing to bet that she's here illegally as well."

"Him being married is something we can work with" Steve said thoughtfully. "Have they any children?"

"One" Chin said. "A son who is seven years old which means that he was born here in Hawaii. According to my man Kamekona, Sang Min is a well-known man in the underworld. He runs the island human import and export business. If you want someone brought in and out of Hawaii without the authorities knowing about it than he is the man to talk to. No one enters this Island without him knowing about it. He's apparently discreet as well. As long as you have the money to pay him, you'll get his full service. No questions asked."

"Okay" Danni said, leaning forward and looking at them both. "Let's assume for the moment that the information that Kamekona gave you earlier is legit and that this is definitely the man we are looking for" she remarked, waving her hand to the picture. "What reason has he to speak to us? We have nothing on him, he'll realise that within seconds of us bringing him here and he'll simply stand and walk out and there will be nothing we can do to stop him. Then if he has any sense he'll go into hiding knowing that we don't have the time or resources to go looking for him. If we're going to bring him in then we need some solid evidence behind us so that he can't walk out. We need to be able to arrest his ass and when I say solid I'm talking along the lines of him admitting his part in all of this, anything else could be seen as coincidence if the defence play it right in court."

"Then we motivate him to speak to us." Steve answered turning to look at her.

"No" she answered instantly with a shake of her head. "Forget it, Coercion won't hold up in court. I want to bury him after we get our answers about Hesse from him. It's important for you to find Hesse Steve but it's just as important to me to close this trafficking ring down so that no other girl has to go through what Chen Chi went through. Cut off the head and the snake will die" she stated, aware of Steve and Chin staring at her.

"We'll take both of them out Danni" Steve said, "Besides I'm not referring to beating him for the information, even though the thought is pretty damn tempting. What I'm suggesting is that we find some leverage like you said and use it against him. The same way we did with Doran earlier" he stated, his eyes moving to Chin who shot them both a questioning look at the name. "We'll fill you in on Doran later" he remarked. Danni nodded slowly, looking at Chin when he spoke.

"Define leverage" he said. Steve shrugged.

"We use a simple bait and trap with an undercover wired up" he said.

"I get you" Danni said slowly. "We sent in an undercover agent with a story about how he needs to get his family into Hawaii. He can say that he's heard through the grapevines that Sang Min is the person to speak to about getting it done quietly. Hopefully Sang Min will say something which will indicate that he is involved and the man in charge and then boom, we have the information we need."

"Exactly" Steve said.

"Only one problem Keiki" Chin said cutting in. "A bait and trap might work well on the mainland but we're currently on an island which has less than a million people on it which means that the bad guy already know the good guys. We can't use any of us for it" he said glancing at them both. "I'm well known, not only because I was a cop but also because of the circumstances behind me leaving. No criminal would believe that I would have to resort to this method especially considering how large my family is on this island. The same with Steve, he might not have been around for the past few years but the McGarretts are still a well-known family especially now that your Dad's murder has been flashed across the news and the papers, everyone knows them and Steve would be recognised instantly."

"And Danni?" Steve queried.

"I would be useless in this kind of undercover work" Danni stated simply. "Look at me Steve, No one would believe that I needed to smuggle anyone into the country, especially someone from China."

"Exactly" Chin said with a nod. "Not only that but Danni is the only female Haole Detective on the force at present time, even I heard about her arrival and I was working in Security at the gift shop. If I knew about it then you can guarantee that the scum of the island knew about it within hours, not only that but they probably know what she looks like. Blond hair and Blue eyes tend to stand out here."

"Okay so we can't use any of us" Steve agreed, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully on Chin. "But you've got someone in mind don't you?" he asked. Chin nodded, a grin coming to his face.

"You could say that."

* * *

Author Note

**I think we all know what is going to happen in the next chapter!**

**Thanks for reading **


	14. Three become Four

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**None of the characters mentioned in the below work of fiction belonged to me, I am merely using them and changing them slightly for my own entertainment purposes. **

Author Note

**I'm so sorry about the delay in getting this chapter to you. I've had it half written for the past two weeks but every time I went to complete it something would come up, namely sick children who needed my attention the entire time they were sick. I don't think I've watched so many Disney films in one go in my life.**

**So you'll have to forgive me I'm afraid.**

**Hopefully this chapter will make up for the wait especially as we finally have the first meeting of the four! Yep that's right people Kono has finally joined the party. It's been fun writing her and I'm pretty sure the fun is going to continue, I can somehow picture her and Danni getting up to all sorts of mischief to keep the other two on their toes.**

**As always writing the scenes and conversations between Steve and Danni has been a joy, I just really enjoy the way they are with each other.**

**I'm hoping that the next chapter will be up quicker than this chapter was!**

**Anyway please enjoy **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**So North shore then…**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

Three become Four

* * *

"Are you going to be one of those people Chin who make broad sentences knowing that it's gonna make me ask questions?" Danni demanded, tilting her head to the side as she narrowed her eyes at Chin. "Because between him" she jabbed her finger at Steve who merely looked amused by the action "And you I might just throw myself out of the window along with all my hopes for a nice, peaceful work life right now and just be done with it."

Chin crossed his arms over his chest, moving his head side to side as he gave consideration to her question before he shrugged, his mouth curving into a smile

"Quite possibly Danni." He responded.

"Okay" Danni said on a sigh. "I just wanted to make sure." Shaking her head, Danni rested her forearms on the table, glancing towards Steve when the other man spoke.

"I'm assuming that you know where we can find this person then?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course" Chin responded confidently, glancing away from the other man to look down at his watch. "If we leave now then we'll be able to get to the North Shore in time to catch them, if we miss them then it might be slightly harder to track down."

"The North Shore" Steve repeated. "So your guy is currently at the beach?"

"Hey, they've got a day off. It's not my place to tell them how to spend their free time" Chin stated with another shrug.

"A day off" Danni said wistfully. "I remember what they are like, it's a bit blurry but yep there's a faint memory stirring that a day off is meant to be spent having fun. You remember what fun is Steve or are you the type of man who sits at home polishing his guns for fun or something similar?" She asked, unable to keep the grin off her face. She held up her hands when Steve turned to look at her. "Okay, okay" she said soothingly. "I'm just gonna disappear now, pretend I don't even exist." she smiled at the pair of them before pushing herself away from the table. Moving round the back of Steve she headed to his office, entering it and heading straight to the desk. She wrinkled her nose at the state of it before she began moving papers around.

"What exactly are you doing here in my office, moving the stuff around on my desk?"

Danni glanced up at the sound of Steve's voice taking in his casual pose before she shook her head. She doubted that anything the man in front of her did was casual. He was the type of man who had everything planned for. It might look to a normal person like Steve was simply leaning against the doorframe of his office watching her, but Danni was willing to bet that he had already mapped out every possible scenario for anything which might occur. It would almost be impressive if not for the fact that she found it strangely sad.

"I was looking for something" she said reaching out and snagging a notebook from underneath the files which he had yet to put away. She lifted it so he could see it. "I've got nothing in this building remember, unless you count myself and what's in my bag. Everything I own at work is still back at my old desk no doubt being stolen by the other Detectives as we speak. I should probably head over there later today and clear it out while there's still stuff there to clear out."

"So why the pad and paper then?" Steve asked. "If you needed something you could just use the laptop" he suggested, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards the machine in question. Danni raised her eyebrow, looking past him and smiling when she caught the expression on Chin's face. The older man was hovering over the computer, looking at it like all his Christmas's and Birthdays has come at once for him. Danni looked back at Steve.

"Hmmm" she said drawing out the sound. "That's a nice thought but let me explain something to you Steve. Me and technology kind of don't like each other. We've got this pact going on with each other you see. I leave it alone and it leaves me alone. It's a win-win situation for all parties involved. Any piece of equipment I touch, especially high tech, sophicated equipment, tends to break. I might be wrong but are you willing to risk it with that machine out there." She asked. Steve blinked at her, opening his mouth to answer before he closed it. He glanced over his shoulder towards it before looking back at her.

"It can't be as bad as all that" he said confidently. Danni shrugged, a slight smile coming to her face when she heard the underlying uneasy note to Steve's voice.

"Apparently HPD has this old photocopier machine, been with the department for years and years, like we're talking twenty, maybe thirty years. The machine is the most reliable thing ever, it never breaks down, never needs any attention. The most it needs is a toner change and for the paper to be refilled every once in a while. Since I've joined the department six months ago, the world's most reliable photocopier machine has broken down seven times, nearly always right after I've used it so I'll ask again Steve, are you sure you want me to have my first technological baby steps on that laptop over there or would you prefer that I keep to the old fashion methods of paper and pen until I have my own computer to mess up?" She asked.

"Paper and pen will do" Steve agreed after a pause.

"Good answer" she said casting her eyes to the blank paper, she grabbed a pen, pushing down on it and began writing. "As for your original question, I like being organised, it helps me to have a visual list of what I need to get done, that way I don't miss anything if something comes up which requires all my attention." She began writing, glancing up at her third point when she realised that Steve was still standing in the doorway, watching her work with a look on his face as though she was an interesting specimen he was studying. Danni scowled as she felt her cheeks redden.

"What?" she asked. "If you need me to move out of your office then just say the word and I will."

"I don't care if you use my office" Steve said, pushing himself away from the doorframe. "Your list will have to wait though Danni, you heard Chin, we have to set off now if we're going to meet his mysterious accomplice."

"Yeah about that" Danni said, glancing down at her growing list. "Do you actually need me there for it, because if it's something that you and Chin can deal with alone then I can stay here and man the desk, you know get some of this stuff done and dusted with before it gets too late."

"What is on that list" Steve demanded, stepping into the room and walking across it, he made a grab for the pad, frowning when Danni jerked back from him.

"Stuff is on the list Steve, stuff which needs to be done preferably today" She commented, she met his eyes, glaring into them for a moment before she relented with a sigh. "Fine, I've got to request the file on Sang Min from the file department back at police headquarters. I've got to write up a full report on the Doran arrest, I've got to have it ready to present to the DA's office so they can decide what charges they are going to use on him. I've got to arrange for Doran to be moved to a holding cell. I need to get my stuff from my old department. I need to go through Doran's gun permits and look through the open and cold cases to see whether any of them flag up as the weapon used, and this is all before your friend in the navy gives you the name of Hesse's accomplice. That just opens up a whole new lot of work which frankly gives me a headache to even think of."

"Give half of that work to Chin to do" Steve said simply. "This isn't your old department Danni, you've already proved to me what a competent detective you are. You don't have to work yourself to the ground to impress anyone or make them see that you belong here because you most definitely belong here. Chin might have been out of the game for a few years but he probably still remember how to check permits and go through records."

"I guess" Danni said reluctantly. "The help would be good."

"Problem solved" Steve stated. "Now grab your bag and let's go. I know you've got stuff you could be getting on with but nothing is more important than meeting Chin's accomplice. Everything hinges on them being the right person for the job. It's the only way we're going to get Sang Min and Hesse. I mean you do still want to shut down the trafficking ring right?" he asked tilting his head to the side. "I want your opinion on them Danni."

"Fine" she said, reaching up and pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingertips. "I get it, you've made your point crystal clear so you can stop now" She stated.

"I've already stopped" Steve said with his half smile. "Now let's go" he remarked, turning and walking out of the office. Danni stared after him for a moment before she sighed out loud, tilting her head back so she was looking at the ceiling.

"Are you punishing me for something?" She demanded out loud. "Because it certainly feels like you're punishing me for something and it kind of sucks. I just wanted you to know that." She lowered her head, setting her shoulders and headed out of the door into the main room. Her eyes immediately landing on Chin who was still looking at the laptop. "Chin" she called out. "Have you still got the information on Sang Min on that thing?" She asked.

"Yeah it's still up here" He answered, typing something onto the keyboard. He looked up at her with a questioning look. "Are you looking for anything in particular?" he asked.

"Just the file reference number" she answered

"Give me a second" he said, his fingers flying across the keyboard in a way that Danni found herself envying. "Okay here it is, the reference is AF459862CH" Danni nodded, quickly jotting the number down before she looked up and flashed him a smile.

"Thanks for that" she said, moving away from the desk and grabbing her bag from the chair she had dropped it in. "Let's go" she remarked over her shoulder before she headed out of their office and towards the lifts where she pressed the call button, humming to herself as she waited. She fished out her mobile, wincing when she saw she had two miss calls and two voicemails all of which came from Amy. She could already imagine what Amy had to say. She dropped her phone back into her bag and shivered, whatever Amy had to say could wait.

She moved into the lift when the door opened, holding it until Steve and Chin entered. They were talking quietly with each other, Danni glanced at them before she looked away, if the conversation was important enough then they would include her otherwise they could just get on with whatever it was that they were saying to each other.

They headed out of the building and towards their respective vehicles without any further delay.

"So North Shore it is" Danni remarked, glancing at Steve as she started her car up.

"That's where our person is spending their day off" Steve confirmed, leaning back in his seat. "Have you been there before?" He asked curiously, turning to look at her.

"Actually I have been" Danni answered brightly as she followed Chin's motorbike out of the car park and into the main road.

"Thank God for that" Steve said. "I was beginning to think that you hadn't visited anywhere on this island."

"That's not fair" Danni replied defensively. "Gracie and I have been places together" She stated, hiding a wince when she heard the uncertain note which came to her voice, the same note which Steve clearly picked up on.

"It doesn't sound like you have" He remarked with a shake of his head. "I'll play ball" he said crossing his arms over his chest. "Where else have you been other than the North Shore? And for the record your house and your former partner's house doesn't count."

"We've been places" Danni responded. "Places which for the record I don't need to tell you about. What are you my travel agent or something?" she demanded huffily, looking away from him and focusing her attention on the road in front. She glared at Chin's exposed back through the window screen wishing that the other man had driven a car rather than a motorbike that day. At least then she could have shoved Steve into his car and had some peace and quiet.

"The fact that you're being defensive over it means that you haven't been anywhere else. You probably only went to North Shore because your partner chose the destination." Steve stated, she shrugged hating the fact that he had hit the nail on the head with his remark. "Have you taken your daughter to swim with Dolphins yet?" He asked.

"No" Danni answered after a moment's pause. "I haven't yet but I'm planning to. Gracie loves the sea and she loves Dolphins, it was one of the things she was most excited about doing when she found out we were moving out here" she confessed with a shrug. "It's just finding the time to do it that's the problem." Danni stopped and breathed out annoyed with herself for being dragged into this conversation. "Why are we even having this conversation? What me and my daughter do with our spare time isn't any concern of yours Steve" she stated firmly.

"It is my concern when I find out that you've been missing out on so much. This island has a lot to offer if you're willing to take the time to go and see it Danni" Danni glanced at him.

"So what, you're volunteering yourself to be my guide?" She asked "You want to take me to all the places the Island has to offer?"

"Well someone has to" Steve responded with a casual shrug. "The turning for North Shore is coming up on the right" he stated, pointing his finger towards the road.

"I know Steve" Danni snapped, slowing the car down and hitting the indicator. She pulled the car into a space within the car park, ignoring the smirk she could see plastered on Steve's face from the corner of her eye. "Let's get this over and done with" she remarked with a shake of her head before she exited the car. She waited until Steve was out of the car before she locked it and turned, walking away from him and towards Chin who grinned at her.

"Good car journey?" He asked pleasantly, his grin widening when Danni stuck up her middle finger at him.

"It was super" she remarked sweetly, reaching up and running a hand over the top of her hair, smoothing it down before she spoke. "Where is your guy then?" she asked, looking around her.

"This way" Chin answered, leading her down a set of old worn down stone stairs which led directly to the beach. Danni sighed, slipping off her heels for the second time that day and hurried after Chin, glancing to the side of her in surprise, when Steve came up next to her. She waited for him to say something but he remained silent, merely matching his pace to hers with a thoughtful expression on his face. "There she is" Chin said proudly, nodding his head towards the sea. "My cousin Kono Kalakaua, she's perfect for the job."

Danni followed the direction of his gaze, her eyes landing on a young looking girl in a slip of a bikini, she was surfing, her movements graceful and sure as she navigated the waves like a pro. She whistled out loud shaking her head.

"Damn" she stated, glancing at Chin who glanced towards her at the sound. "I'm not an expert at surfing by any stretch of the imagination but even I can tell she's good"

"Damn good" Chin corrected. "One of the best even" He looked away from Danni and smiled fondly at the girl. "She's off the charts, intelligent, physical. I don't think the kids been beaten in a fight since she was five years old and that's only because her brother cheated during the match. Then there's the surfing side of things. She spent three years on the pro circuit winning everything until she blew out her knee. Kono was devastated as you can imagine, everything she had spent her life working towards was gone in one second. She had to reinvent herself so she decided to follow in the family tradition and wear a badge. She's due to graduate from the academy next week" Danni turned her gaze away from Kono to look at Chin when he sighed. "Unfortunately she's family which means that no one at HPD will take her seriously because of me. She'll be left with all the shitty jobs that no one else will want and there will be nothing which she will be able to do about it."

"Hey watch it" Danni glanced back at the ocean at the shout, wincing when she saw Kono and a man who was clearly there on holiday collide, both of them taking a tumble off their boards and into the sea.

"Are you sure that she would be ready for something like this?" Steve asked from the other side of Chin, "We're talking about throwing her straight into the big leagues with this job" He glanced towards them both, his gaze hidden by his sunglasses. "Can your cousin handle herself?" He asked.

"Hey Brah" Danni looked away from Steve, her eyes landing on Kono as the young woman came out of the sea, her board under her arm with her gaze fixed on the man who had collided with her. Danni watched as Kono reached the man, her arms jerking forward as she landed a sharp punch round the man's face, flooring him with seemingly no effort. "Think twice next time you want to drop in on someone's wave uninvited. They might not be as nice as I was about it" she informed the man before she turned away from him, moving towards them. Her eyes came up, a wide smile coming to her face when she saw Chin. "Cousin" She squealed, jogging towards him and throwing her arms around him.

"Oh you had him water woman! That was a double headed waste. Perhaps you should have kicked him while he was on the ground." Chin said with a grin, nodding his head towards the man who was getting to his feet, gingerly rubbing at his jaw.

"I know, what a waste. It was the first good pipe of the season and look what happened."

"That's tourists for you Cuz, can't live with them…"

"Can't shoot them either" Kono ended his sentence with a grin. "Well we could but that might not look good on our records would it. I'm not sure whether the judge would accept the reasons behind it" She pointed out.

"Well, that would depend on whether the judge surfed, if he did then he would understand your reasons why" Chin remarked. "Anyway Kono I want you to meet Commander Steve McGarrett and Detective Danni Williams" he said, waving his hand towards them.

"Nice right hook" Steve said, sounding impressed as he held out his hand to Kono. "I doubt he will be surfing anytime soon" Kono grinned, shaking his hand before she dropped it.

"Naw Brah, that was just a little love tap" she pointed out.

"Hi" Danni said with a wave meeting Kono's eyes when the woman looked at her, her eyes scanning her features as though she was sizing her up. Apparently Danni passed if the large smile that came to Kono's face was anything to go by.

"Pretty impressive that you've made Detective with that lot" Kono said. "I've only been in the academy and I've already learned that it's definitely an all boy club, they must love you" She remarked.

"As much as they like being shot I imagine" Danni responded. Kono nodded.

"Cute dress" She remarked causing Danni to grin at her before she glanced down at it.

"Thanks" She said brightly. "I got it in a sale though if I had known how today was going to turn out I might have worn something different."

"How do you feel about earning some extra credit?" Steve asked, interrupting Danni's and Kono's conversation.

"I can always use extra credit" Kono answered looking back towards him. "What exactly have you got in mind?"

"Undercover work" Steve responded. "Chin seems to think you're perfect for the job and I trust his judgement, it be better if we speak back at our headquarters rather than here where anyone could overhear our conversation."

Danni blinked when her phone suddenly went off. She fished it out of her bags and answered it.

"Detective Williams"

"Jersey? It's Boston"

"Hey Boston" she said, holding up a finger to Steve as she moved away from them. "You sound serious, is something up?"

"I've found something" he responded. "Something which I think you're going to want to see straight away."

"Okay" Danni said slowly, "Are you still at the crime scene or are you back at the CSU labs" she queried.

"I'm heading back to the labs now with most of the crew" he answered. "Can you meet me at the labs in thirty minutes? I need to… oh wait a minute Jersey" he said sounding annoyed, she heard a sound, before he spoke again, his voice muffled as he addressed someone else, giving them orders before he spoke again his voice clearer. "Sorry about that, yeah meet me in lab number one. You should know the one but if not ask for directions. I'll tell the front desk to expect you."

"Okay" Danni agreed. "I'm just doing something but I'll drive over as soon as it's done."

"Great, see you later Jersey."

"Later" Danni brought the phone away from her ear and ended the call, looking down at the screen before she dropped it back in her bag and headed towards the other three. They had moved towards the entrance where they had come through, talking to each other though Danni was aware of Steve's gaze on her. "Sorry about that" Danni said, her gaze meeting Steve's. "Ryan's found something, we wants to show it to me. It sounded pretty important. Do you want to come with me or do you want me to drop you off at the office and then go on?" She asked.

"I'll come with you" Steve answered without hesitation. He turned to Chin. "Chin, take Kono back to the office and wait for us there. I doubt we'll be very long and then we can deal with the plan for tomorrow. Sorry to do this to you Kono but everything shall be explained soon" He remarked, glancing at her before he looked back at Danni. "Come on Danni, let's go" Danni smiled at Chin and Kono before she sighed, glaring at Steve when he grabbed her by the arm and began pulling her away.

"See you at the office" she said over her shoulder at them as she allowed Steve to drag her to the car.

"Did he say anything about what he wanted to show you?" Steve asked the moment they were in the car.

"Nothing, only that he had something to show me" Danni answered glancing towards him. "Whatever it is must be pretty important though for him to call, normally he would just email me his findings before he did his official report. I don't think he's ever rang me and told me to come straight to him before" she answered.

"Well we'll soon see what he needs to show us" Steve answered, glancing at Danni. She met his gaze and nodded.

"We shall."

* * *

Author Note

**Thanks for reading!**

**An especially massive thanks if you've taken the time to review, favourite or follow the story. I really appreciate it!**


	15. Can you decipher it?

The Beginning

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

**If you recognise a character in the story below than they belong to the creator of Hawaii 50 which clearly isn't me since I wasn't even born when it first came out.**

**If there is a character who you don't recognise however then it is likely that, that character belongs to me. Please do not use any of my characters without asking my permission first.**

**Thanks **

Author Note

**So slightly late with my updating again so sorry about that but here's a brand new chapter for you.**

**There's a good chance with Christmas just around the corner that I'm not going to be able to update until the New Year so if that's the case then I'm sorry. I hope to update before that but we get so busy around this time with visiting family and friends that the time to write might not be there even if the desire is.**

**I'm not going to lie, I'm really enjoying writing this story. Every time I think of all the possibilities it makes me grin and just want to crack on. There's still so many people to introduce Danni to, not to mention the fact that I get to write Steve meeting Grace. A scene which might end up going differently than in the show **

**My character of Ryan is in the below chapter for a bit but he sort of needs to be. I'm trying to keep to the pilot as much as possible but also add things in. The fact that Doran is alive for example. The fact that they are still building a case against this scum bag even while going after Hesse. There's lots to explore still including the friendships that Danni has with other people.**

**Saying that though, I'm seriously loving Steve and Danni, they are just writing themselves in this and I love the fact they are. It already feels natural to me that Danni would reach out to Steve to try and comfort him, even a slight touch and then simply forget that she's done it. You'll see what I mean later on.**

**It wouldn't surprise me if this story ended up being about thirty chapter long but we'll see. We're already on chapter fifteen and I still feel like we're only half way through **

**Gah… I think I might start writing the next chapter tonight!**

**Anyway please enjoy my latest offering to you all **

Overall Summary

**When Danni Williams moved to Hawaii all that she wants is to keep her head down and survive the year she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who pays her little attention and is more intent on getting her blown up. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it (Female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**We found this….**

Overall Romance

**Not gonna lie I'm thinking there is gonna be some Steve McGarrett/Danni Williams**

Chapter Romance

**You'll have to decide for yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

Can you decipher it?

* * *

Danni bit down on her lower lip, her face falling into a frown as she tried to figure out what it could be that Ryan wanted to show her. She couldn't get the tone of his voice out of her head. He had sounded cautiously excited but there had been something beneath that tone, a note of concern as though he wasn't quite sure what they had found or what it would mean for the investigation.

It didn't make sense, she knew Ryan. She knew how dedicated he was to his work, she knew how much he enjoyed it and that he actually loved going to his job every day. The people he worked with respected him even if they didn't like him. He would follow something through to the bitter end, wherever the evidence took him would be where he went, so what was it about this piece of evidence which had him sounding concerned?

She wondered why he had called her rather than emailing her like usual. This had been the first time he had contacted her in that fashion about something which was work related and it worried her. What had he found that couldn't wait.

"You're thinking too hard" Steve said, breaking the silence in the car. "If you carry on you're going to end up with a headache and I doubt that you'll want that" Danni blinked, turning to glance at Steve. He was staring out of the window screen, a thoughtful look on his face, his fingertips tapping against his thigh in a random beat.

"Yeah" she said, turning her attention back to the road. "I tend to do that, if we're going to be partners than you'll have to get used to it I guess." She pointed out with a shrug as she hit the indicator, taking one of the short cuts to the police station which Meka had showed her on her first week of the job.

"Are we heading to the station?" Steve asked curiously. Danni nodded her head.

"Did I not mention that before?" she said in surprise. "He wants us to meet him at the lab. He was heading back there when he rang, probably with whatever it is he wants to show us."

"And you've no idea what it could be? He didn't say anything?" Steve questioned, Danni shook her head with a sigh, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes.

"I would have told you if he had" she replied in annoyance. "I don't tend to hide information from my partner when we're working a case."

"Could it be something to do with Hesse?" Steve said, turning to look at her, a hard note coming to his eyes at the mention of his father's murderer. Danni shrugged.

"Could be" she said cautiously. "Ryan was the lead CSU agent on your father's murder case. He was one of the ones who processed the evidence which was taken from the house. He knew I was interested in finding out more about Hesse, I mean all me and Meka had to go on was the name and we got that from the file copy of the interview you had with your commanding officer in your debrief. Until I met you there was literally nothing on the guy. No one would talk about him, it was like he was a ghost or he simply didn't exist. Ry promised me that if anything came up with Hesse's name he would call me straight away."

"He was the lead agent" Steve repeated, a growl coming to his voice. "Clearly not a very good one if he missed out the palm print I found on my father's desk."

"You can't blame Ryan for that" Danni retorted defensively. "I said that he was the one processing the evidence which was given to him. I don't think Ryan has even been to your father's house Steve. He sent a team in, if you want to blame anyone for that being missed than blame the team who went in to process the house not Ryan who could only work with what he had been given."

"He could have gone in on his own and looked around" Steve pointed out.

"Why would he do that when he trusted the team he had sent?" She asked. "If you sent in some of your SEAL buddies to do a job would you than go and have a look knowing that it would show that you had little to no trust in them?" She demanded, meeting Steve's gaze steadily until he looked away with a small huffing sound. "Exactly, you wouldn't. Ryan's job is hard enough as it is without making more problems for himself."

"Your quick to jump to his defence Danni, is there anything I should know before we go in there?" Steve demanded. Danni snorted, wishing that the journey to the station wasn't so long. The only thing she wanted to do right now was escape the confines of the car before she did something stupid, like punching her new boss in the face on her first day of working with him.

"Jesus Christ Steve" she said, smacking her hand against the steering wheel. "You are unbelievable. There's nothing going on between me and Ryan other than friendship but if there was then it would be none of your business. I'm quick to defend him because we're friends and we face the same bullshit prejudice as each other because we're not Hawaiian natives. He's one of the only people who will give me the time of day on this Island which you love so much, so yeah I'm not gonna sit here and listen to anyone bad mouth him, not even you."

There was a heavy silence. Danni was well aware of Steve watching her but she didn't dare look over in case she said something which she would regret.

"Fair enough Danni" Steve said softly. Danni blinked in surprise at the change in his voice before she forced herself to focus on what he was saying. "If he's rang you than there's a good chance that he's found something which links Doran directly to Hesse and we could use that as leverage against Doran. He knows more than he's letting on to us."

"That's what I'm thinking" Danni said, taking Steve cue and changing the subject. "You never know maybe we'll strike it lucky and there be some link between Sang Min and Doran as well" Steve considered Danni's comment briefly before he shook his head.

"I doubt it Danni" Steve said, reaching up and running a hand down his face. "A man like Hesse is careful, having two contacts who could be linked together in some fashion would be careless and Hesse is rarely careless. He'll be using people who have nothing in common together. I doubt Doran and Sang Min would even know the other person's name. That's how Hesse likes it, after all how could you give evidence if you don't know them."

Danni sighed.

"It's no wonder he's never been captured" she pointed out.

"Yet Danni" Steve replied, "It's only a matter of time before we nail the bastard." Danni smirked.

"And you'll be the one holding the hammer right?" she asked amused, glancing at Steve, her smile widening when she caught the half smile on his face.

"Right" he agreed. "What do you think of Kono?" he asked. Danni shrugged.

"I think we've seen her for a grand total of five minutes if that, that's not enough time to form an opinion on her."

"You must have some opinion Danni, you seem to have an opinion on everything" Danni raised an eyebrow, glancing towards him as she turned into the police station car park.

"Having an opinion on everything is the sign of an active mind Steve" she said firmly. "As for Kono well she seems friendly enough. She can clearly handle herself, I think that she will be able to handle anything in that room with Sang Min, in fact Chin might be right. She is going to be perfect for the undercover op we're planning. Whether you're asking my opinion on whether we should hire her, well you're going to have to wait for that because I don't know yet."

"Why do you think she's gonna be able to handle it?" Steve questioned as Danni stopped the car in her parking space and killed the engine.

"Because I'm a detective Steve" Danni answered impatiently. "I make decisions in a matter of seconds because half the time I don't have the luxury of taking a while to come up with a conclusion. The same way as I know you're constantly testing me, waiting to find out what my weaknesses are, not because you're trying to get rid of me. No, you want me on this team, but because you're trying to find out my weaknesses so you can compensate for them. Whether you're trying to protect me or keep me safe or whether it's because you're a SEAL and shit like this is burned into your DNA I don't know but I do know that it's annoying." She shifted on the seat so she was could stare into his face as she answered his original question. "Kono is a surfer" she said. "Which makes her brave in the first place. The ocean is not something you fuck around with, it's something you respect because the ocean doesn't care who you are, if you don't know what to do out there then you're a going to die" she said, holding down on the memories which were threatening to swamp her. "Kono was a pro surfer which means she was out on the ocean daily, she would have had to make split lifesaving decisions constantly and it's that small fact that will make her good tomorrow. If she agrees to it Steve, you still need to convince her to do it" she pointed out. "Now are we finished with this latest test so we can go and get this done and back to the office so we can actually let Kono know what she's getting herself into?"

Steve nodded slowly, the half-smile coming to his face again.

"Lets" he said, pushing his door open and exiting the car. Danni shook her head, grabbing her bag and following Steve out of the car. She locked it and began walking to the entrance.

"Ryan's in lab one" she said, running lightly up the stairs and through the main doors. She made her way silently down the corridors until she reached the area which had been dedicated to the CSU teams. She swiped her card on the panel to the side and entered the area, holding the door open for Steve. She held her hand up at the guard when he took a step towards them. "I'm Detective Danni Williams" she said flashing her badge at him. "This is my partner Commander Steve McGarrett. Agent Moore is expecting us" The guard face relaxed and he nodded.

"The famous Danni Williams" he stated with a nod. "Ry told us to expect you. He's in lab one waiting for you. Do you know where that is or do you want me to escort you there." He asked with a questioning look. Danni shook her head, flashing him a smile.

"I'm pretty sure I remember where it is" she replied "Down the hall and second door to the right?" she asked, her voice ending up in a questioning tone when she caught sight of his face.

"Nope" he said with a shake of his head. "First door on the left" Danni rolled her eyes and shrugged at the guard, shooting him another smile.

"Close enough" she said as she headed down the hall, stopping by the door on the left. She knocked on it and entered it, blinking and automatically catching the pair of adhesive gloves which were thrown in her direction.

"You know the rules, put those on Jersey" Ryan said distractedly, glancing up from the microscope he was looking through and grabbing another pair from the side and chucking them at Steve. "You too Commander."

"What have you got for us?" Danni asked, pulling the gloves on and stepping to the table.

"Could be nothing" Ryan warned, "Could be something." He stood up straight, glancing at Steve for a moment with a watchful expression before he turned his attention back to Danni. "You remember when I told you on the phone that Doran had several hidey holes in his trailer, which considering he lived in a trailer should have been pretty impossible" Danni nodded.

"Yeah, you hung up because one of your team had found something" she said. Ryan nodded.

"Well that was just some more snuff DVDs" he said. "We were about to put the drawer back when we noticed that there was something behind the area we had just uncovered. A little pulling and we pulled out a second drawer. I'm telling you Jersey, it's like the dude actually built the trailer around the special hidden areas rather than the other way round."

"What did you find in there?" Steve demanded attracting Danni's attention. Her partner had his unreadable face on again, the one which made his eyes look cold and deadly. It was a look which Danni was already beginning to hate seeing.

"A notebook" Ryan said, picking up a small book from the table and passing it to Danni. Danni glanced at it, flicking through the pages, her eyebrow rising when she noticed the fact that the pages were covered in something, though what it was she couldn't figure out for the life of her. To her it looked as though a beetle had fallen into some ink and scrambled across the page.

"I don't get it" she said with a shake of her head. "What do you make of it?" she asked Steve, holding the book out to him. He looked away from Ryan, his gaze meeting her eyes as he took the book from her, looking through it.

"I've seen this code before" Steve said looking up at Danni.

"Well that's good news then" she said "Can you decipher it?" Steve nodded.

"I should be able to" he said, "I've done it before" He looked away from her to look back towards Ryan with a frown. "How did you know to contact us if you couldn't read it?" he asked.

"The Governor" Ryan answered with a shrug. "She sent over some documents via fax today, things to look out for in this case. It mentioned that Hesse tended to write in a code. This notebook was all written in code so I figured we might strike it lucky. I told Jersey that I'd keep her informed so that's what I'm doing" he said.

"Thanks for this Boston" Danni said, waving her hand towards the notebook. "Was there anything else to show us?" Ryan shook his head.

"Not yet" he said. "But there's a lot to process and there's still stuff coming in, I came back to begin it. I'll send you an email Jersey with my findings." Danni nodded

"Great, we best be off then, we've still got stuff to do in regards to the case" she said with a nod towards Steve. Ryan nodded slowly, glancing up, his eyes flickering between Danni and Steve.

"I'll see you Saturday" he replied. "I'll call you on Friday to make final arrangements."

"Let's go Danni" Steve said turning and heading to the door. Danni shot Ryan a rueful look before she headed out of the door after Steve.

"Hey wait up will you?" She called after him, thankful when he slowed his pace so she could catch up. She scanned his face and frowned. "What's with the face?" She demanded. "I thought you would have been happy with this."

"That depends on what it says" he replied, waiting for her to swipe her card before he was out of the door.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, stepping out into the heat. She squinted, reaching into her bag and pulling out her sunglasses. She slipped them off, shaking her head when she saw that Steve was already at the car, his attention fixed on the notebook. She headed over to him, unlocking the car and getting in, switching the air con on with a sigh of relief. She glanced once at Steve before turning the key in the ignition.

The journey was made in silence, Steve's attention fixed firmly on the code while Danni mulled over the facts for the cases. There was a chance that the notebook in Steve's hand was something to do with their case, but there was also a chance that it wasn't. If it was written by Hesse than it certainly provided a link between the two of them which had been missing before but there was also the chance that it had been written by an associates of Hesse's, who was merely using the code not knowing that it had been cracked.

She parked up the car and got out, heading towards the building, locking it when she heard Steve slam the door shut behind her. She made the way to their office, shooting Steve glances from the corner of her eye before she entered the room. A smile coming to her face when she saw the smile that Chin shot her.

"Find anything?" Chin asked.

"A notebook at Doran's trailer which is filled with a code which Hesse uses. Steve's cracked it before so hopefully we'll soon know what is written in it" She said, turning her attention to Kono. "Sorry to keep you waiting" she said.

"No problems, it's always good to catch up with Cuz anyway." Kono replied with an elegant shrug. Danni noticed that she had pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Danni moved around the table so she was standing next to Steve, she reached up and wrapped her hand around his arm, squeezing it and shooting him a look when he turned to look at her.

"Kono is waiting to be briefed Steve" she said pointedly, letting go of his arm and grabbing the book from his grip, throwing it onto the table.

"Have you ever done any undercover work before Kono?" Steve asked, leaning his hands on the table, his gaze fixed on the younger woman. Kono glanced between the pair of them before she shook her head.

"No" she replied "But we did do a month's worth on training on it at the academy" she said. "They taught us most things that we would need for undercover work. I'm assuming that we aren't talking about deep undercover?" She asked. Steve shook his head.

"A day's worth at the most, if even that" he replied, straightening his body and crossing his arms over his chest.

"What do you need me to do" She asked.

"We're after a man called Victor Hesse" Steve said bluntly. "And we believe that he has a connection to a man called Sang Min. Sang Min is in the business of trafficking people onto the island. We want you to meet with him tomorrow and get him to implicate himself."

"Implicate in what way?" Kono asked.

"We're ninety percent positive that Sang Min is the reason why Victor Hesse is on the island at the moment" Danni said taking over from Steve. "But to make him talk and admit that we need to find evidence that he's the head of the trafficking ring."

"I get it" Kono said slowly. "Why do you want Victor Hesse so much?" She asked curiously. "What did he do?"

There was a moment's silence before Steve spoke, his voice flat and emotionless.

"He executed my father."

Danni reached out without thinking, placing her hand on Steve's lower back in an attempt to comfort him. Images of John McGarrett's dead body flying through her head.

"As you can imagine" Danni said, directing her comment towards Kono who was looking at Steve with wide eyes. "We want Hesse pretty badly and Sang Min is our best link to getting him."

"I'll do it" Kono said. "What storyline are we going to use."

"Nothing too hard Cuz" Chin said speaking for the first time. "We need it to be believable. You're going to be an immigrant here. You need to get your family over from China and you've heard on the grapevine that Sang Min is the person to go and speak to about getting it down quietly without any questions asked."

"How are you going to set the meeting up or does he have some kind of walk in service?"

"Nothing like that" Steve said, glancing at Danni when she dropped her hand from his back. He frowned slightly before turning his attention to Kono again. "Chin has a contact who can get us a meeting with him for tomorrow."

"We'll be with you the whole time, listening in" Danni assured her. "If anything happens, we'll have your back."

"Listening in with a wire?" Kono asked with a raised eyebrow. "Won't that be the first thing they check for when I get there?"

"Yeah but you won't be wearing a wire" Chin said "There's equipment at the police station which will pick up the whole conversation as long as we're in close enough range to you both. As long as you get him talking then we'll hear it. The minute he agrees that he's the one to talk to is the minute we have him."

"How will you get the equipment?" She questioned, her attention still on Chin. "They aren't going to let you walk in Cuz and take it."

"Nope" Chin replied. "But they will let Danni take it" he said nodding his head towards Danni who sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Now you tell me Chin" She said, placing her hand on her hips. "Didn't occur you to call me when I was at the station to ask me to pick it up?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the grin that came across the older man's face.

"I figured that it would help you get to know the Island better" he said casually.

"Danni" Steve said interrupting Danni before she could respond to Chin's comment. "I need you to go to the station and get the surveillance equipment. Pick up Sang Min's file at the same time. Chin, Danni has a list of gun permits which are coming through in regards to the Doran case. Check them against the current open and cold cases the department has going back say ten years, if nothing flags up try extending the search to twenty years, for all we know he might have inherited some of those guns. Also make sure you check to see whether the guns actually have permits in the first place. Kono feel free to stay and help your cousin out with doing that."

"What are you going to do?" Chin asked.

"I'm heading back to my father's house to make a start on cracking this code. Danni" he said looking back towards her. "Drop me off there and then come there after you've picked up the surveillance equipment. We'll store it at my house until tomorrow morning. Any problems Chin you can call me on my mobile. If you can't get through for some reason call Danni. I'll probably be with her."

Danni frowned.

"Am I your personal taxi driver or something?" She asked in annoyance, ignoring the grin on Chin's face.

"Well this is what happens when you don't let me drive your car" Steve responded, placing his hand on her upper back and pushing her towards the door.

"This weekend you are going to go and buy yourself a car or a truck or whatever it is you like driving" she huffed. "And on Monday you're going to start driving yourself places. I'm not going to drive you everywhere on the Island just because you want me to. Understand?"

She glanced over her shoulder, catching the smile that came to his face. He met her eyes and nodded once.

"If you say so Danni" he said, patting her back. "Now let's get a move on"

* * *

Author Note

**Woohoo another chapter done!**

**Hope you enjoy it **


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